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Explore Our Interactive Timeline Of The Water Wars

March 6th, 2014

How much do you know about the water wars between Florida, Alabama, and Georgia? Did you know this fight has been going on for decades? Or that at one time it looked as if Atlanta was going to have to give up 95 percent of the water it had been getting from Lake Lanier?

Now, with Florida suing Georgia yet again and learning that the lawyers who have worked for the state on this litigation are stepping down after 15 years, we thought it might be a good time to look back at the history of this epic struggle over water.

To do this, we’ve developed an interactive timeline tracing the back-and-forth of the disputes about how the water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin can be used, and by whom.

This fight began with decisions that were made shortly after the end of World War II, and it is not over yet. Atlanta and much of Georgia depends on water from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, so it has a direct effect on the lives of millions of people. But it’s about much more than just water.

This fight is about whether a state has the right to use its resources as it sees fit. It’s about preserving a viable environment for wildlife in Apalachicola Bay and along the Florida Panhandle. It’s about whether the explosive growth of the Atlanta region is really responsible for the near-collapse of the oyster industry in Florida. It’s about preventing floods and managing droughts through the creation of a series of dams and reservoirs. It’s about jobs and economic growth, both in the Atlanta area and on the Gulf Coast. It’s about the proper relationship among and between states in our federal system.

And much of this hinges on what Congress really intended when it authorized the construction of Lake Lanier and the other Army Corps of Engineers lakes along the Chattahoochee River.

WABE has been covering the water wars for years, and we have done many stories on various aspects of the dispute. In addition to the timeline, we’ve put together a compilation of our stories so you can read how we got here.

Click here for our interactive timeline of the water wars.

Click here for our news stories on the water wars.