In 2004 the state of Georgia adopted a water planning
system, and in 2008 adopted a water plan,

with regional councils appointed in 2009 by the governor,
lieutenant governor, and Speaker of the House.
While I wonder why this organizational setup inserted a regional
layer of government that is unaccountable to the people in the region,
it’s good somebody

is doing some water planning.

In the event “gaps” between available water and future (or current) demands are identified, the Council will determine which water and land use management practices should be employed to ensure there is sufficient water and assimilative capacity to meet future needs. EPD will use computer models to test the ability of the recommended practices to close any identified “gaps.”

If you remember Atlanta running out of water a few years ago

and parts of
the state legislature trying to rewrite history to get water from Tennessee,
it would be good to have south Georgia’s aquifer water not being sucked up by
Atlanta like Los Angeles absorbs water from hundreds of miles around.

After the Regional Plan is adopted, all EPD permits and Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) grants and loans for water projects will be guided by the Plan.

This would also be relevant to, for example,

biomass projects.

The public comment period foor the plan has already expired.
The next meeting of the council is

this Thursday, September 2,
at

Okefenokee Technical College in Waycross.
The agenda seems to indicate there’s still some room for input.

Here are

the appointees for the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council:

That’s an interesting list.

-jsq