Stakeholder Groups

When water issues and concerns are mentioned, Southwest Georgia residents tend to align along one or two of several special interests or stakeholder groups. The Southwest Georgia Water Leadership Summit recognizes these differences and facilitates discussion among and within these groups. Participation or identification in one group by an individual does not imply exclusion of other interests.

Agriculture | Municipal | Industrial | Health | Natural Resources | Other

Agriculture

Farmers and other agribusiness interests focus their first concern on assuring an adequate supply of water for irrigation during droughts and a steady supply of high quality water for livestock, aquaculture, and domestic consumption.

Most farmers have developed their own water supplies with wells or ponds on their property or through withdrawals from streams that flow through or along their property. Those who need to withdraw more than 100,000 gallons/day, any day of the year, must be permitted by DNR-EPD. That includes almost all water withdrawn from surface or groundwater sources that is used for irrigation of crops and orchards. There is no reporting requirement for agricultural users. Unlike growers in western states, Southeast farmers must bear all costs of developing the water source, delivering the water, and applying it. They invest in this resource to add it to their cropland to generate additional revenue and to reduce risks of crop failure.

Others with a stake in agriculture are farm credit agencies and bankers, seed, chemical, fertilizer and farm implement suppliers, processors of farm products, and shippers of agricultural commodities and supplies. In most South Georgia counties, annual farm revenues, including the added revenue obtained from use of water for crops, is vital to their economic stability.

Municipal

Water authorities, usually branches of city or county governments, are responsible for obtaining a steady supply of water, purifying or otherwise treating that water to meet human consumption requirements, and delivering it to customers. Their customers include homeowners in urban and suburban areas, businesses, many industries, and government entities like parks, schools and offices. Water that they supply is closely monitored by county, state and federal authorities, especially EPA, to assure that it always meets standards set by state and federal laws.

All municipal water withdrawals are permitted by DNR-EPD. They are required to report those amounts regularly. Municipalities usually have some sort of metering and separate billing for their customers. Most have emergency plans to handle droughts or excessive demand periods. Security of these public water sources and delivery systems is also of constant concern by municipal water authorities.

Associated with most municipal suppliers is a municipal waste water authority that must collect domestic and industrial waste water, treat it to meet state and federal standards, and discharge it at appropriate outfalls. The discharge of water is also permitted by DNR-EPD to assure that the receiving waters have adequate capacity to assimilate all of the remaining wastes without exceeding State and Federal stream water quality standards set to protect fish and other organisms, plants, and downstream users.

Industrial and Manufacturing

Like those in the agricultural sector, industry stakeholders are concerned with use of water in the production of revenue that supports jobs and the economic well being of the region. Whether they bottle it for sale in various forms, cool chemical reactions, or wash products and equipment, industries need adequate and dependable supplies of water. Water quality is often a critical consideration in industrial processes and products, sometimes requiring higher standards than drinking water. Many industrial users can scale back operations in times of drought or water emergencies, but that is often associated with an economic loss that ripples through the community.

Industries and manufacturers who develop their own water supplies must be permitted to make withdrawals by DNR-EPD. They have regular reporting requirements. Most manufacturers can document water conservation they have achieved, often looking at a decreasing trend in gallons of water per pound of product. Those industries with wastes generated as a result of their water use will need to treat that waste and their discharges must be permitted.

Health

Public health interests in water trace their roots back to programs to control insect born diseases like mosquitos borne malaria as well as disease organisms that can be transmitted in water. Health agencies include public authorities like county and regional health departments, as well as hospitals, private medical practicioners, and others concerned with protecting water supplies for humans. Because municipal and state authorities have taken most of the responsibility for larger (municipal) water systems, the health professionals often concentrate on the individually supplied water and waste water systems.

Homeowners, businesses, farmers, and others who live in areas not presently serviced by municipal water suppliers, must develop their own water supplies and treat their own wastes. There are tens of thousands of wells tapping the upper Floridan aquifer, and even some in unconfined surface water aquifers, to supply individual homes and businesses. The digging of wells for these users are usually regulated by the county governments. Likewise there are tens of thousands of septic tank - seepage field systems for handling waste water from these individual users. These too are regulated by the county, but after the initial tests there are rarely follow-ups on operation or maintenance of the systems. Quality of individually supplied water and contamination of surface and ground water from septic systems are major health concerns in the region

Additionally, health groups are still concerned with transmission of diseases such as encephalitis by mosquitos and water born diseases. They may provide input to authorities who can treat these waters or isolate contaminated sources.

Natural Resources

Like health interests, environmental concerns are shared by most citizens. These are not water user concerns as much as water quality and natural habitat concerns. Loss of wetlands by draining, conversion to home and business building sites, clearing for agriculture, or improperly harvesting forests represents a loss of habitat for wildife and loss of stream protection. It may also mean a change in the nature of flooding events, where wetlands are natural buffers to the ravages of flooding. Loss of stream and river habitats of fish, shellfish and other biota may be caused by channelization or streambank clearing and misuse. It can come from siltation as soil erodes from highway, farm and building sites. It can come as nutrient imbalance favors floating plankton like algae or from toxic compounds or disease organisms released or washed into the water. Contamination of groundwater can happen when pastures, paddocks, and feedlots are over stocked or when poultry wastes aren't properly stored. Groundwater can be impaired by leaky or poorly designed septic systems, by sinkholes that are filled with wastes and chemicals, or by landfills that are improperly lined and drained.

The Natural Resources then is a collection of interests as diverse as those seeking to keep healthy game animals or fish, those looking for a quiet uncontaminated stream to float in, and those seeking to protect the few remaining natural habitats in the region. Individuals may belong to national or regional organizations, or they may prefer to speak out alone.

Other Stakeholders

In addition to the five groups identified above there are other stakeholder interests that typically involve fewer people. These are not well represented by the groups above, although they can probably ally with one or another of those five. These include Recreation, Navigation, and Hydropower. These may be very important to the region, and their concerns must also be heard and understood.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences and its National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL), a research organization dedicated to development of environmentally and economically sound agricultural production systems, is proud to host this important forum for public discussion of water issues.

The views presented here do not represent those of NESPAL, The College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The University of Georgia, The State of Georgia or their employees. For more information please revisit these pages for updates, or send electronic mail to Dr. Jim Hook at jimhook@tifton.cpes.peachnet.edu.

Water Summit pages developed by Linsey Forlow and James Hook on April 1, 2002. This page last updated April 1, 2002.