Views on developing Georgia’s first comprehensive statewide water management plan panel discussion

Abstract

The 2004 Comprehensive Water Management Planning Act charged the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) with developing a comprehensive statewide water management plan for Georgia under the guidance of an array of principles spelled out in the Act. The Plan is to recommend state level water policies that would guide river basin and aquifer management in accordance with regional and local aspirations not inconsistent with state water management goals. While the guiding principles and a time frame for developing the Plan were well-defined within the Act, it was left to EPD and the Water Council (a body created by the Act) to conceive and execute a stakeholder driven process that would culminate in the first edition of the Plan being presented to the Georgia Legislature for adoption during the 2008 legislative session. The process to be employed by EPD and the Water Council will utilized products previously produced by the 2001 Joint Comprehensive Water Plan Study Committee and others, and will rely upon extensive input from several formally constituted stakeholder bodies and the public at large.