Drought in Dixieland: Managing Water Shortage in the ACF Basin

The Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint River Basin, the subject of a tri-state legal dispute between Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, has experienced serious water shortages in recent years. In addition to resolving the ongoing federal court litigation regarding the basin, there are several water management options that may ameliorate these shortage issues and ease tensions between the states. For example, one option that is currently being explored is the use of rain water harvesting, in both residential and industrial settings, in order to limit the amount of water drawn from the basin for potable, personal, and commercial use. Another option for improving water use management during drought is through the Flint Basin Drought Protection Act, which states that Georgia may buy water from farmers in an anticipated drought year. Many research questions arise pertaining to this law, including the range of possible adaptation strategies for farmers and irrigation practices. Our poster will examine several such water management alternatives, and suggests the potential impacts, positive and negative, that they may have on the ecology of the basin and on social and economic factors within these three states. We hope that through our findings we may suggest relevant policy recommendations for water management authorities within the basin.