Atlanta finds a solution to the drought

Piping Tennesee River, a possible solution to Georgia's drought
Could Tennessee River help rescue metro Atlanta? Volunteer State unlikely to rally to the idea

By DAN CHAPMAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/01/07

Only a mile from Georgia's northern border, the bountiful Tennessee River passes tantalizingly close to drought-stricken and desperate metro Atlanta, prompting politicians, scientists and homeowners to ask - nay, demand - that Georgia stick a 100-mile-long straw into the river and drown its own water woes.

If only it were that simple.

A tsunami's worth of political, technical, environmental and financial obstacles impede the Tennessee's flow to Atlanta. U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is "adamantly opposed" to the southward transfer of water from the Volunteer State.

Crises, though, whet appetites.

The Tennessee River sits squarely in Georgia's sights. State Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) said recently that Georgia should begin negotiations with state and federal authorities who control the river. Gov. Sonny Perdue said "everything has to be on the table," including inter-basin transfers of water between states.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and her Chattanooga counterpart, Ron Littlefield, discussed recently the feasibility of piping millions of gallons daily across the border.

"I don't rule out the possibility that there could be some exchange of resources that could benefit both cities," Littlefield said.

What does Atlanta have to offer? A high-speed rail link between the Atlanta and Chattanooga airports? An agreement not to build a second airport north of Atlanta that would compete with Chattanooga?

It's not far-fetched to Cobb County Chairman Sam Olens that train tracks might one day run up one side of I-75 and water lines down the other.

"I get calls from Tennessee folks that want high-speed trains," said Olens, who has broached the subject with Perdue's staff. "There are opportunities for us both to be good neighbors."

Closest regional supply

The 652-mile-long Tennessee River - the nation's fifth-largest - snakes from Knoxville, through Chattanooga, into Northern Alabama and Mississippi, before returning to western Tennessee and joining the Ohio River in Kentucky. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal corporation and the country's largest public power company, manages the river via a series of 49 dams and reservoirs.

The Tennessee River's average flow through Chattanooga is 34,300 cubic feet per second - 17 times the amount that flows through the Chattahoochee River at Buford Dam.

"We've said for a long time that the only body of water that could really make an impact on Atlanta, for the long-term future, is the Tennessee," said Doug Wilson, executive director of the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center, which advises state legislators. "It's the closest regional supply and it's a large volume. It's literally that simple. And, heck, it's downhill from there."

Michael Eiffe, a TVA water quality program manager, cautions against obvious observations. "If we compare ourselves to Saudi Arabia or the western United States, it is accurate to say we are a water-rich region," he said. "But the water in the Tennessee basin is finite [and it's] a very strained resource. We're in the third year of a drought and the drought continues to get worse in terms of severity and duration."

Already, eight municipalities and four industries in North Georgia withdraw water from the Tennessee River system. Dalton buys 3 million gallons a day of treated water from the Hamilton County, Tenn., utility, enough to cover roughly 10 percent of its need.

"That's very valuable and necessary when you consider the drought circumstances we're in and our ability to produce water, primarily from the Conasauga River," said Don Cope, Dalton Utilities CEO. "It's not inexpensive. But the expense is relative to whether or not you have any water."

In 1988, Harry West, then-executive director of the Atlanta Regional Commission, broached the idea of transferring large amounts of water from the Tennessee to metro Atlanta. A high-speed rail link between the burgeoning communities entered into the conversation.

Bob Gallo, then-president of the privately held Tennessee-American Water Co. in Chattanooga, said, "We've always been proponents of a regional water system." But public officials balked at the prospect and Tennessee's governor convinced the General Assembly to strengthen anti-transfer laws.

The Inter-Basin Water Transfer Act, on the books since 2000, largely prevents water transfers out of any Tennessee river basin. It further limits interstate transfers via a stringent permitting process that requires the intended recipient of Tennessee's water to show it won't harm downstream communities. Alabama and Mississippi, for example, can effectively stymie Georgia's attempt to claim Tennessee River water.

Dodd Galbreath, who helped write the legislation for then-Gov. Don Sundquist, said fears of droughts, environmental degradation and lawsuits - like the 17-year water war between Georgia, Florida and Alabama - led to unanimous House and Senate passage of the inter-basin legislation. Since 2000, only seven water transfer permits have been approved, totaling 9.4 million gallons of water daily, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

"Once you give away water, it's almost impossible to get it back," said Galbreath, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Practice at Lipscomb University in Nashville. "Georgia, Alabama and Florida cannot agree on [the Chattahoochee River], so why would anybody agree on the Tennessee River? The state of Tennessee will be very hesitant to share its river not because it's selfish, but because it's not sustainable."

Nothing, though, prohibits Tennessee from selling river water to Georgia. Still, huge hurdles remain before Atlantans sip Tennessee water.

The TVA reviews any water-transfer application to ensure that communities in the seven states that tap the Tennessee would not be adversely affected. The TVA must also consider a withdrawal's impact on electricity generation, flood control, navigation and recreation.

Utility managers and environmentalists prefer to return water to its natural river system once it has been used, an expensive proposition if Atlanta were to buy Tennessee water. It could cost $5 billion, under one scenario, to pump water from Chattanooga to Atlanta and possibly double that amount to return it to the Tennessee.

Environmental concerns could stall an inter-basin transfer for years, just as endangered mussels in Florida have helped prolong Georgia's water war. Taking water from one river system and placing it into another could harm water temperatures, fish, plants and other aquatic life.

"If we had to choose between an inter-basin transfer and sacrificing another stream in North Georgia, which would we rather do?" Joe Cook, executive director of the nonprofit Coosa River Basin Initiative, asked rhetorically - since both cause environmental damage.

Perhaps the biggest challenge would be convincing Tennesseans and others who depend upon the river that sprawl-at-all-costs Atlanta is worthy of the precious resource.

"There'd be a great public outcry," said Littlefield, Chattanooga's mayor, who was born in LaGrange. "Atlanta is the 800-pound gorilla in the Southeast - I say that kindly - so people would want to see a lot of very careful planning on Atlanta's part. They don't want Atlanta to have unlimited water and just keep expanding."

'Interesting synergy'

Georgia, according to Perdue and Carol Couch, director of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, isn't actively pursuing an inter-basin transfer with Tennessee. But Cobb County's Olens, who has discussed inter-basin transfer with the governor's staff, said "there is some interesting synergy" between Atlanta and Chattanooga.

"Clearly, Chattanooga would prefer we not build a second airport, and much of Tennessee's leadership is supportive of a high-speed rail line between Atlanta and Chattanooga," Olens said. "Excess capacity of the Tennessee River in lieu of a second airport makes a lot of sense."

Federal transportation officials gave Atlanta $1 million this year to study ways to boost capacity at Hartsfield-Jackson, but they would prefer a second airport. Booming North Georgia would seem a logical spot. Chattanooga, though, may not want the competition.

The feds have also put up $8 million to study a high-speed rail link between Hartsfield and Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. A fast train could render another airport unnecessary.

"It's a deal worth discussion," Mayor Littlefield said. "The best thing we could do is some kind of combined system where we sell potable water to the northern regions of Atlanta and we have some kind of inter-basin transfer to help keep reservoirs above dangerous levels."