Watered-down Flint River bill clears Georgia House – Atlanta Business Chronicle

Georgia lawmakers overwhelmingly passed an embattled water policy bill Wednesday but with a far narrower scope than what supporters originally envisioned.

The legislation, which won approval in the state House of Representatives 164-3, would set the stage for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to pump water stored in underground aquifers into streams along the lower Flint River in times of drought using a process called augmentation. It would allow the EPD director to prohibit irrigation permit holders downstream from the augmentation project from tapping into that water, legal authority supporters say the agency needs to protect the state from being sued for failing to protect endangered mussels.

The original version of the bill the state Senate passed last year prompted an outcry from environmental groups that it could be used to send massive quantities of water down the Flint River into Florida, a “swap” that would let metro Atlanta keep enough water in Lake Lanier to supply the metro region for years to come, increasing Georgia’s leverage in the tri-state water wars.

Gov. Nathan Deal got behind the bill, as did the Georgia Agribusiness Council and Georgia Farm Bureau.

But enough members of the House objected to such sweeping legislation that supporters were forced to narrow the bill to get it through the lower chamber.

via Watered-down Flint River bill clears Georgia House – Atlanta Business Chronicle.