Georgia to Continue ACT Water Negotiations with Alabama

Atlanta - Governor Sonny Perdue issued the following statement today regarding the water negotiations between Florida, Georgia and Alabama:

"Throughout the water negotiations, Georgia acted in good faith concerning Florida's needs, committed to meeting those needs, and provided assurances that those needs would not become minimums. However, each time we committed to meet Florida's water needs, Florida demanded more controls to micromanage the water in Georgia. These controls, for instance, would have frozen our irrigation for agriculture at existing levels for the life of the agreement.

"In the end, I was not willing to agree to sacrifice Georgia's needs for drinking water, agriculture, environmental protection, hydropower, recreation and navigation for the sake of a political agreement. It is an affront to our state's sovereignty for another state to attempt to use a water sharing agreement to control the engines that drive Georgia's population, food supply and livelihood.

"Sadly, we missed a unique window of opportunity to resolve these issues Governor to Governor and state to state. As we move forward in the courts, we remain committed to fairly apportioning our regional water resources.

"The state of Georgia and our neighbors to the west, the State of Alabama, plan to continue working on the details of an agreement concerning the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa river basin. I want to thank Governor Bob Riley and his staff for their continued cooperation. Governor Riley has consistently negotiated with the highest ideals of statesmanship in mind. Together, we can move forward in the effort to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial to both states."