U.S. Water News Online
ATLANTA-- Endangered and threatened species in Florida are not harmed by the operation of federal dams on the Chattahoochee River, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report.
Georgia, Florida and Alabama, which have been in a years-long court battle over sharing water in the Chattahoochee River, had been waiting for the 176-page report, which was recently released.
But the report's findings will not settle disagreements among the three states. Alabama and Florida immediately filed lawsuits, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is also not pleased.
"We're concerned that the corps is releasing more water than the species truly need, resulting in less water for the daily needs of millions of Georgia citizens," Perdue said.
The states have been in court-ordered mediation since March to settle the question of how much water is sent downstream from Lake Lanier, which serves more than 3 million metro Atlanta residents.
At times this summer, the corps released more water downstream than was flowing into the river basin. But it still has not been enough water to protect all the endangered and threatened freshwater mussels in Florida's Apalachicola River. Many fat threeridge and purple bankclimbers have died this summer from exposure, stranded on dry stream banks or in channels cut off from the main river.
But Gail Carmody, the Fish and Wildlife Service's field supervisor in Panama City, Fla., said recent surveys have found more mussels that are classified threatened and endangered freshwater mussels than were previously known to exist. The service plans to re-evaluate the federal status of those mussels in coming months, which means they could be taken off the lists of endangered and threatened species.
Georgia has said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, is sending too much water to Florida. But Florida contends it needs even more water to protect the Gulf sturgeon fish and rare freshwater mussels. Alabama wants a steady supply of water to meet its industrial needs, including a nuclear power plant near Dothan, Ala.
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