Metro Water Planning District

Atlanta’s Regional Water Planning Effort

Enacted in 2001, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District Act governs comprehensive regional and watershed planning across the 15-county metro Atlanta region (Metro District).

The plans for the Metro District are three-fold, focusing on watershed protection, wastewater management, and water supply and conservation. Assuming they are properly drafted and implemented, these three plans should help restore watersheds, protect water quality, and secure an adequate water supply for people, fish, and recreation, while minimizing the adverse impacts of growth and development on these and other water uses in and downstream of the region.

The Atlanta Regional Commission provides staff to the Metro District’s Governing Board which oversees the development and implementation of the three plans. First approved in 2003, these plans are updated every five years. In December of 2008, the Governing Board approved updated draft plans for public review.

In spite of serious concerns raised by UCR and others, the draft plans were adopted with only minor changes.

Read UCR's letter to the Governing Board regarding the (3) final draft plans.

View the final adopted plans.

As an active member of the Chattahoochee Basin Advisory Council (BAC), UCR continues to work with Metro District staff, the Governing Board, local governments, business, environmental groups, and others to improve plan accountability, transparency, and effectiveness.

Role of UCR

Over the past decade, UCR staff has participated in dozens of stakeholder, technical, and board meetings organized by the Metro District, as well as provided extensive comments throughout the development, implementation, and recent updates of the three plans.

In spite of our ongoing, active participation, we remain deeply concerned over several major deficiencies within the latest draft plans. Namely . . .

Weak Water Conservation Goals—the approved 2009 Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan is a significant rollback from the 2003 plan. The Metro District has backed away from its earlier pledge to achieve 20% water savings by 2030, to a meager 13% water savings by 2035. This weakened goal stands in sharp contrast to what Governor Sonny Perdue has called for (20%), what Georgia’s EPD Director Dr. Carol Couch has acknowledged is doable (25-33%), and what the citizens in the Metro Atlanta area have already accomplished in response to the latest drought restrictions (20%). Clearly, we can and should do better.

 Overreliance on Expensive “Solutions”—the approved 2009 Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan relies extensively on the construction of additional reservoirs and the transfer of water from one river basin to another to address future water supply needs. In these tough economic times, improving water conservation and efficiency is the most cost-effective means of increasing our water supply while reducing our demand. For more on the “hidden reservoir” of water generated by improving efficiency, see the recent report by American Rivers.

 No Plan “B” for Lake Lanier Water Supply—the approved 2009 draft Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan also predates the recent federal court decision which invalidated much of the Metro District’s use of Lanier for water supply. Instead, the plan assumes that the Corps will continue to operate Lanier in order to fuel the Metro District’s rapid and unchecked growth and asserts there is no alternative to Lanier for meeting the Metro District’s future water supply needs. We disagree—focusing more on improving water conservation and efficiency rather than on raising reservoir levels is not only more economical, but leaves more water in our streams necessary to support all downstream uses.

Deteriorating Water Quality—Contrary to assertions made in the 2008 draft Watershed Management Plan and 2008 draft Long-term Wastewater Management Plan, we have made little if any progress in terms of improving our water quality. We actually have hundreds of more miles of impaired streams today than we did five years ago, when the water plans first went into effect. We cannot afford to waste any more time with plans that not only waste water and money, but also do little to prevent the degradation of water needed for drinking, fishing, and recreation.  
 

Simply put, the Metro District is wasting our water, time, and money. Join UCR in urging the Metro District to go back to the drawing board and get more serious about water conservation and water quality.