Posted on 02/23/2008 7:56:30 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
Years ago a Georgia planner joked, half seriously, that the Peach State should just “stick a straw” in the Tennessee River to bring water to thirsty Atlanta.
The analogy may turn out to be easier than anyone thought.
Regional cavers are suggesting on their blogs that Georgia take advantage of Tennessee River water backed up years ago by TVA dams into Nickajack Cave and some connected caverns. They say water captured from the Tennessee River flows underground into Georgia and Alabama. If engineers could drill in, then courts might have to decide if the water is groundwater or impounded Tennessee River water.
Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation officials acknowledge the cave drilling idea is a possibility.
There may be a river water connection to cave streams in Georgia, said Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for the department.
“Do we know whether there is a specific place in Georgia where someone could drill and hit an underground lake that existed in some capacity before Nickajack was flooded and is now charged with Tennessee River water? No. But the department believes that moving Tennessee River water out of the Tennessee River watershed would require permission from both TVA and the Army Corps of Engineers,” she said.
Ms. Calabrese-Benton said Tennessee officials believe TVA and the corps would “be protective of the resource in all states.”
TVA spokesman Gil Francis said such a plan almost certainly would involve environmental impact studies, federal reviews known for lengthy delays.
Nickajack Cave is a protected area as the habitat of an endangered species of bat, he said. And even if Georgia could drill to water in a connected underground cave near Nickajack, experts would have to show where the water came from. Even in groundwater, should dye tests or other means show it is Tennessee River water or a river source water, an environmental impact study would have to be conducted to show the impact on the river, he said.
“What they (Georgians) are asking us to do is divert water that goes to Huntsville and many other cities and instead send it to Atlanta,” Mr. Francis said. “We’ve heard a lot of discussion about moving the border, but even if you did, it doesn’t change the watershed. If you transfer water from that watershed, it will affect reservoir elevations and TVA’s abilities to do what it does. And you’re still talking about interbasin transfer.”
In 2000, Tennessee lawmakers passed the Interbasin Water Transfer Act requiring the state to issue permits to any entity moving water out of the Tennessee River watershed, which is the 40,000-square-mile area where rainfall naturally flows ultimately to the river.
Dodd Galbreath, who as a policy planner in the administration of former Gov. Don Sundquist helped push through Tennessee’s interbasin water transfer permitting law, said officials then wrote the law with specific language to account for “conjunctive” relationships or connections between surface and groundwater.
“Any removal of groundwater that results in a reduction of flow in the Tennessee River counts,” Mr. Galbreath said Friday. “We were very careful to regulate the ‘effect’, not just the action.”
I remember the name of the little crawly thingy because it was in the news for months and stopped a big dam or something being built...
People were stunned then angry that a tiny water thingy had become more important than humans...
That was followed by the Spotted Owl in the OR or WA timber wars and so on...
Why can’t Georgia just buy the water Atlanta needs from other states at a price set by a free market?
Just be glad that we store all the liberals here inside of I-285.
I still remember how Tennessee tried to steal a train from Georgia.
Then apply the same rule to California, and listen to the screams from LA.
Since your screen name seems to indicate you may know this, I want to ask you a question I have been pondering for some time; is the O’Bama tribe related to the Ala Bama family or not?
Well, as of now, I’d say extinct ones.
Would someone please tell every green luddite to take a flying leap?
It gets so freaking old! Grow the heck up, already!
Seems that breweries had an exception ~ they could serve beer anywhere they wished. So some restaurant guys applied for licenses to be breweries, began popping tops and putting a plastic cup over the top, and got around the law.
I believe Plains is outside I-285...home of one of your most toxic liberals.
Oh yes. You are right. Atlanta is the armpit and Plains is..., well, ...
Not knowing any Ala Bama tribesmen who spent time in madrassas, I can safely say NO to that.
Of course he did win the state so he does have some sympathizers, but they are not of the yellow dog variety.
Tut Tut. Please leave our darling presidential daughter out of this most serious discussion.
Truth be told, there would be no New York City. The nearby Croton system can only supply 10% of its water. So over the course of 125 years, the city bought vast tracts of land, damned rivers and streams, built huge aqueducts and tunnels, fought numerous lawsuits (the Delaware was divvied up by a Supreme Court ruling in 1954) and generally did what was necessary to secure a reliable water supply.
What has metropolitan Atlanta done? Relied principally on the Army Corp. of Engineers' Lake Lanier and the smaller Lake Allatoona. Totally inadequate. They must think big. If they can't secure water from the Tennessee River system, they have to go further afield. The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers come to mind. Yes, it's a long way to go for water. But the stark choice is either get a reliable supply or dry up slowly.
*snort* We left a gas cap at one of those cheap stations once, when we were heading South for a family reunion. Had to stop at an Auto Parts store in Gadsden AL to get a replacement.
I’d say once the water leaves your state, you’re pretty much out of luck.
We want it back...
you just spit thet thar water back over herar
y’heear ???
Y’all ???
:)
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