If you haven’t been paying attention, you should know that Georgia is in a Supreme Court battle with Florida (and to a lesser extent Alabama) over how water passing through Georgia from the northeast mountains through Atlanta and down into the fertile southwestern part of the state before heading south into Florida should be allocated between the states. In the 2012 drought, the lack of fresh water decimated the oyster industry in Florida, and Florida blamed Georgia and especially Atlanta for taking more than their fair share.
Now, the focus has shifted to farmers in southwest Georgia, who use aquifer water as well as surface water for irrigating their crops. Next week a special master in New Mexico will revisit the legal arguments about who has rights to the water and provide a decision to the Supreme Court for their action. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has an excellent long article on the court case and how it could affect agriculture here.
