Competing Demands Among Water Uses in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin
| Total Population | 6.76,700,000 millionmillion |
|---|---|
| Total Area | 21,90021,900 km² 8,455.59 mi² km2 |
| Climate Descriptors | Dry-summer, temperate |
| Predominent Land Use Descriptors | agricultural- cropland and pasture, agricultural- confined livestock operations |
| Important Uses of Water | Agriculture or Irrigation, Domestic/Urban Supply, Fisheries - wild |
Contents
Summary
Water management in the ACF has long been a highly contentious issue. Conflict over water in the ACF is largely driven by three competing demands: water for urban and industrial uses (water quantity, assets, and governance) in upstream Atlanta, agricultural water needs (water quantity and assets) in southern Georgia, and water for ecological and fisheries needs (ecosystems, water quantity, water quality) in Florida’s Apalachicola Bay. While conflict in the ACF has received significant attention, the potential of improved agricultural policy and management to create water savings in the Basin has received surprisingly little attention. This analysis addresses the following questions: 1) Do agricultural subsidies influence water use in the Flint River Basin and can direct subsidies be used to potentially reduce conflict over water in the ACF Basin? 2) Can agricultural policy and management promote more sustainable water use in water-stressed basins? The case finds that agricultural subsidies play an important role in farmer choice about which crops to grow, thereby indirectly influencing water use. For this reason, altering agricultural subsidies and encouraging farmers to grow more water efficient crops can greatly improve water use in the ACF and other water-stressed basins. In water-stressed basins with significant agricultural activity, attention should be paid to the role of local and national agricultural policies—including crop subsidies—in driving water use. Particularly as climate change exacerbates water tensions, opportunities to increase the efficiency of water use needs to be seriously considered.
Natural, Historic, Economic, Regional, and Political Framework
The ACF (Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint River) Basin is one of the most contentious watersheds in the world. The basin’s waters originate in northern Georgia, travel through eastern Alabama and flow out through the Florida panhandle into the Apalachicola Bay. Atlanta, the region’s economic hub, is located upstream and is one of the basin’s predominantusers of water. Southern Georgia and Alabama are heavily agricultural, and demand significant amounts of water for irrigation. Downstream, the basin’s waters play a key role in Florida’s fisheries and the ecological health of the Apalachicola Bay. The failure to reconcile these competing interests and uses for water has made water management in the basin highly contentious, a problem that is further complicated by water quality issues associated with insufficient wastewater treatment and agricultural runoff throughout the basin.
Conflict over water in the ACF has been studied extensively by academics and practitioners, and numerous proposals for how to improve management of the basin and reduce conflict have been made. Proposed approaches for addressing the basin’s conflict can be summarized as focusing on: 1) institutional arrangements between states, 2) dam operating policies, and 3) water consumption in Atlanta. Institutional arrangements have attempted to develop cooperative management committees in the hope that, through negotiation, the parties involved in the conflict could come to agreement. These arrangements have taken various forms, including at Tri-State Compact, which was—as mandated by the Supreme Court in 1997—supported by a mediation process. A joint-fact finding process has also been undertaken. The Army Corps of Engineers has attempted to meet competing water uses through the dam operating policies. The Chattahoochee River has 13 dams, and the timing of the releases from these dams influence the available water throughout the basin. The third major approach has been to target water consumption in Atlanta. As a rapidly developing industrial center, Atlanta’s water consumption has risen significantly over the past several decades, causing concern among other stakeholders. Because Atlanta is located in the upper portion of the watershed, the logic is that if Atlanta reduces its consumption, more water will be available for downstream uses. Unfortunately, to date, none of these approaches have successfully resolved the conflict.
In 1990 Alabama sued the Army Corps of Engineers for management of Lake Lanier, and the case has been a source of ongoing litigation ever since. Given that the case has been involved in litigation for over 20 years and repeated attempts to resolve the conflict have failed (ARC 2012), it appears that new approaches for resolving this conflict are needed. This need is intensified by the fact that climate change may lead to more frequent and more severe droughts and water shortages in the basin, which is likely to further exacerbate conflict if tense relations in the ACF aren’t addressed.
Issues and Stakeholders
Maintaining water supply for agriculture and irrigation
NSPD: Water Quantity, Governance, Assets
Stakeholder Types: Federated state/territorial/provincial government, Industry/Corporate Interest
Ensuring sufficient water for upstream municipal and industrial uses
NSPD: Water Quantity, Governance, Assets
Stakeholder Types: Federated state/territorial/provincial government, Sovereign state/national/federal government, Local Government, Industry/Corporate Interest, Community or organized citizens
Maintaining ecological health and sustaining fisheries in Florida’s Apalachicola Bay
NSPD: Water Quantity, Governance, Assets
Stakeholder Types: Federated state/territorial/provincial government, Sovereign state/national/federal government, Industry/Corporate Interest
Analysis, Synthesis, and Insight
Individuals may add their own Analysis, Synthesis, and Insight (ASI) to a case. ASI sub-articles are protected, so that each contributor retains authorship and control of their own content. Edit the case to add your own ASI.
Learn moreASI:Agricultural Subsidies
Agricultural production has received far less attention than other water uses in the ACF, and agricultural management has been largely overlooked as a source of potential means of addressing the basin’s water issues. This is surprising, given that agriculture is generally a relatively inefficient user of water and may offer significant “low-hanging fruit” for water savings. Since agriculture is a dominant user of water in the ACF and the primary use of water in the Flint River sub-basin (Georgia Department of Natural Resources 2006), attention should be paid to how agricultural policies and management can be used to improve water management in the basin. Can agricultural policies, mainly rethinking subsidies, encourage water savings in the Flint River Basin, thereby helping to address basin-wide conflict in the ACF?(read the full article... )
Contributed by: L. Kuhl (last edit: 28 October 2013)
