previous summits

SUMMIT I

Stakeholder Brainstorming - Appendix A

Held January 20, 1999, at Albany Technical Institute, Albany, Georgia

The following comments from the brainstorming session represent "first thoughts" and concerns of individuals within the stakeholder group. They are provided as a working document for further discussion and refinement. They should not be considered a consensus opinion of the group. With the discussion to take place at the Summit 2 conference, these thoughts will be hammered into more thoughtful positions for initiating a dialog among the groups.

Agriculture | Municipal | Industrial | Health | Natural Resources

Agriculture

What are the most important concerns / issues from your perspective?

• Clean water availability

• Least intrusive monitoring process

• Allocation process

• Florida already has regulations in place

• Concentrate on keeping all water (surface & underground) clean

• Monitor gallons used to know how to regulate

• Concern that political clout will dominate and deprive Southwest Georgia of its water resources

• That there isn't enough data to adequately reach an allocation formula on a very complex issue

• All groups will have to make sacrifices

• Effective but workable solutions no one-size fits all governmental mandates

• If restrictions are put on agriculture, then industries should face the same restrictions

• Agriculture should remain second only to human consumption in water use policy

• Concern about uninterrupted/consistent use of groundwater

• Most water pollution is municipal, residential and urban

• Protection of groundwater from crop run off

• Does a landowner own their land or what runs under it?

• Enough water to sustain crops to maturity

• Protect water for the future generations

• Don't want the people who don't have a vested interest in making the decisions for what they will receive

• Existing permits should be honored

• Income protection of irrigation is shut down

• Not being able to grow enough yield and survive. Have to have water as needed, once crops are started they can't be stopped

• How do we be proactive to guarantee water conservation in stages so won't be burdensome (how will wells be regulated, is there a sure way of buying & selling water, will replacement or repair of existing wells and surface water irrigation be permitted)

• Must maintain "current use" and use water conserved as a bartering tool

• Clean and adequate source of water

• Try to keep irrigation limitations on a volunteer basis

• Don't sacrifice agriculture water for anything else - agriculture does not recover rapidly — plants can't reopen — cities can curtail growth

What is the role of our stakeholders (Agriculture) in these issues?

• Because of agriculture's small numbers we need equal votes on the water issue

• Need a major rule as they are a major user

• Need to be involved in policy making at all levels

• Provide a unified voice that represents a cross-section of agricultural users and provides accurate water use information

• Establish incentives for farmers to upgrade irrigation systems for efficiency

• Have to dialogue with all the negotiators at the table and with local stakeholders

• Keep federal, state and local officials apprized of needs often and early

• Insure that they take advantage of all research available to conserve i.e., means of irrigation, sub-surface irrigation. Make technology work for conservation

• Utilize best management practices in all areas of production

• Be more organized on the farmers part to address the issues and present their case

• Adopt water conservation technology and practices

• To continue to be active in the Southwest Georgia Water Resource Group

• The agriculture industry in Southwest Georgia must show leadership and be pro-active in formulating a rational agricultural use policy

• Provide and update information concerning our needs and the consequences of not having an adequate water supply

• Get someone from the agriculture group involved in the decision making process within the state and local governments

• Need to stay involved to the end and don't give up any water now

• To have fair representation and to have a continuing influential voice in the process, be certain that the basis for negotiations is accurate and to keep the group well informed prior to making any major decisions

Where do we go from here?

• Continue to conserve land and water.

• Organizing agriculture people in an effort to educate non-farmers about how important farmers are in food production and how their use of water is helping. Educate people as to the importance of water to farmers.

• Start measuring now - rainfall versus underground water pumped

• Set up a conservation mode we can live with

• Organize the agriculture community to develop a unified voice of representation with authority to develop policy concerning water use. Form task forces to communicate with negotiators, protect rights for agricultural use, speak for producers.

• Be proactive, not defensive.

• Cultivate legislative entities

• Organize the stakeholder's group so they can become better educated in the compact and the allocation process.

• Get all the agriculture producers involvedand made aware of the situation.

• Work closely to make sure they [agriculture] have good representation.

• Leadership.

• Design a cooperative effort to build more ponds, restore wetlands to their original state, catch runoff water for storage ponds, allow water to percolate back into the ground.

• Restrict new permits.

• Make sure we have adequate research and data to back up our statistics.

• Continue to be involved.

• Continue to share information within the groups in an effort to unify.

• Select representatives from stakeholders to represent the group.

Municipal

What are the most important concerns / issues form your perspective?

• Sub-group 1

  • Quality of our existing water resources.

  • Quantity of our existing and future water resources.

  • Conservation of and fair allocation of water resources.

• Sub-group 2

  • Regional concept of supplying water.

  • Water quality & quantity.

  • Allotment of water resources.

• Sub-group 3

  • Present and future water supply.

  • Water quality.

  • Allotment of water resources.

• Sub-group 4

  • Quality, quantity, conservation - fair allocation of resources.

  • Internal resolution by State agencies, not court.

  • Education.

  • Funding.

  • Flexibility and compromise.

• Comments from Discussion

  • In the past, water was considered a service and was provided at a very low cost.

  • Now it needs to be considered a product - community leaders need to regroup on this issue.

  • Cost of water must increase. In the past, the more you used, the less it cost - this trend must reverse.

  • All areas are not the same, water resource problems differ from community to community; therefore, regulation must done carefully and responsibly.

  • The public must be educated and made aware of the issues so they can use water resources responsibly.

  • It is future generations who will inherit the problem we are creating; we must act now to protect them.

  • We must regulate before State and Federal governments do.

What is the role of our stakeholders (Municipalities) in these issues?

• Sub-group 1

  • Proactive education of public officials and citizens.

  • Resource management/adequate management.

  • What is true value of water in dollars.

• Sub-group 2

  • Education across the board - public, media, regulators, etc.

  • Conservation.

  • Working regionally to address issues.

  • Local land use to protect quality.

  • Regulation of rates.

• Sub-group 3

  • Education of general public, public leaders, etc.

  • Establishment of policies and procedures.

  • Determination of the information to disburse to the public.

  • Watchdog or regulators.

  • Use resources wisely.

• Sub-group 4

  • Develop policies to protect resources.

  • Administer policies.

  • Educate public.

• COMMENTS FROM DISCUSSION

  • We cannot wait until there is a crisis to start managing our water resources.

  • Allocation is the only thing that will control usage.

  • This is a tri-state problem.

  • Water usage will increase in the future because expected population changes.

Where do we go from here?

• Sub-group 1

  • Grassroots education.

  • Local elected official education.

  • Participation in the allocation process with Alabama and Florida.

  • Additional regional educational activities.

• Sub-group 2

  • The commitment to educate.

• Sub-group 3

  • If we are to educate, we need the information that is being used to determine the allocations.

  • Establish regional concerns and criteria to deliver to ACF and ACT commissions to ensure our needs are protected.

  • First obtain information on status of ACF and ACT.

• Sub-group 4

  • Keep organization alive to stay informed.

  • Follow efforts of negotiation.

  • Maintain momentum.

  • Work on suggestions for equitable allocations.

  • Increase involvement of public; become better educated on issues and pass it on effectively.

• COMMENTS FROM DISCUSSION

  • Acquire and share facts with other groups.

  • Build a consensus.

  • Keep organization alive.

  • Stay informed.

  • Maintain momentum

Industrial and Manufacturing

What are the most important concerns / issues form your perspective?

• The balance of water quantity between industry and agriculture

• The most effective way of treating groundwater

• The stakeholders not working together to solve natural resource problems

• Developing a consensus of what the problem is. (Educated themselves and public on what the actual issues are)

• Developing a water maintenance plan for growth development

• Need good data, good science

• Potential caps on usage of water

• Lack of political influence by SWGA ( worried that the issue will be settled by judges outside of Georgia who are not as familiar with our issues)

• Maintaining water quality

What is the role of our stakeholders (Industry) in these issues?

• Commenting on plans/ active participation in process

• Providing facts on the impact these issues are having on industry

• Water conservation and water quality maintenance

• Education of agriculture by industry and by industry to agriculture

• Industry form coalition groups to solve problems

• Educated public in these issues

• Forge a winning alliance amongst all stakeholders

• Provide education to our group along with who is in our group and their needs

• Insure equality of all water

Where do we go from here?

• Collect the data from today's meeting and disperse to stakeholders Factual evaluation of data

• Initiate stakeholder actions for effective use of water resources

• Address the issue of agriculture (Stop drilling new wells).

• Continue to work together as an independent stakeholder group but also interact with other stakeholder groups to better educated these groups

• Define the problem and develop a strategy

Health

What are the most important concerns / issues from your perspective?

• Protect the aquifer from contamination to ensure an adequate, safe supply of clean, potable water. This includes addresses areas of:

  • Solid waste disposal

  • Aquifer contamination due to wells which are not sealed properly

  • Taking necessary measures to protect ourselves against a biological terrorist attack on our water system

• Maintain enough surface flow in our streams to:

  • Sustain our natural resources and promote environmental harmony

  • Attract industries to SW Georgia

• Develop the best plans we can, based on the best knowledge we have, but keep those plans flexible enough so that they can be altered if new facts are learned.

What is the role of our stakeholders (Health) in these issues?

• Pro-active education of the policy makers and the general public with regard health issues related to water quality.

• Advocate for stronger Public Health control measures, and become involved with the various processes: Evaluation; Research; Policy Development and Implementation — to include rules, regulations, permits, etc.

• Assess and Monitor --- Maintain closer oversight of the well-drilling process, and closer monitoring of industries for possible water contamination.

Where do we go from here?

• Develop a better working relation between DNR and Public Health -- more cooperation between the two agencies is mandatory!

• Increase the number of Environmetnal Health staff, OR prioritze our EH Program by deciding what it is we need to be protecting the most. Water Resources should be a priority issue.

• Educate the public on water issues.

• Develop policies — and implement them — to protect the water supply and the public's health.

• Change the mind-set from that of growth mentality to a sustainable resource mentality - which is really the long term solution.

• Continue to research the issue.

• Be pro-active in anything the stakeholders may be doing.

• Address the issue of over-population.

• Practice better treatment and practices for sewage disposal -- both industrial and municipal -- and particularly with regard to solid waste disposal.

• Acquire more scientific data to substantiate our premises and actions.

• Keep more accurate records on wells.

• Advocate for more community systems because there are already so many holes in aquifer. This would lessen the risk of contamination risks.

• Insure wells are sealed properly — More regulations are needed, especially on irrigation wells, because there is a greater possibility of contamination if not sealed properly.

• Seek resources (money) for Southwest Georgia that are comparable to funds going to other parts of the State. We perceive there to be an unfair allocating of funds to other parts of GA.

• Seek resources for water systems -- county / community in this area of Southwest Georgia.

• Ensure laws are enforced with regard to irrigation wells, especially in crop irrigation, so that back-flow is prevented. It's required but nobody's checks it.

• County Health Departments could work to determine exactly what the situation is with regard to our water resources in our perspective counties, but that will require money. Based on those findings, we would develop strategies for dealing with the issues of concern.

Natural Resources

What are the most important concerns / issues from your perspective?

• Managing water in a holistic manner considering all uses and users

• Recognize intrinsic value of water

• Think in the long-term

• Maintain water quantity and quality

• Adequate sustained water availability for agriculture

• Consumption of drinking water

• Water run-off

• Destruction of small streams

• Animal waste in streams

• Environment as testing zone

• Waste management

• Water supply pumping from small creeks

• Maintaining clean drinking water

• How will water be controlled

• Runoff - sedimentation

• Preserve and protect water supply

• Method to share the pain-equitable plan

• Economic impact of water

• Loss of biodiversity - Freshwater mussels, Wetlands, Migratory birds, Striped bass restoration, shoal bass

• Incorporation of conservation values - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Increase awareness of and implementation of water conservation measures within the basins

• Fairness in the process

• Maintaining a balanced system of biological, social and economic characteristics

• Education related to the resources involved

• Biological monitoring and research

• Establishing market values of water use to investigate a free market approach to water resource allocation

• Establishing water balance calculations to estimate acceptable aquifer discharge rates.

• Water re-use, technological advances on obtaining more efficient water use

• Statutory issues concerning public access to "non-navigable streams bounded on both sides by private land - poaching and trespass

• Poorly defined criteria concerning power dam management (raising/lowering of gates - regulating volume and velocity of water down stream - (overreaction to rainfall creates unnecessary downstream flooding).

• More emphasis on riparian buffers

What is the role of our stakeholders (Natural Resources) in these issues?

• Advocate natural values

• Active participation as opportunities arise - Regional summit, Governor's Advisory Group, Formula Review

• Help to support data collection needs - Funding, Volunteers

• Educate

• Facilitate

• Participate

• Promote

• Policing guidelines and policies

• Helping to develop guidelines

• Monitor special interest groups influence on policy

• Promote stewardship - Education, Dialog, Consensus building, Conjunctive uses

• Provide input as to priorities in the formula as to water resource use

• Capture input for regulatory groups

• Refine and priortize the issues that reflect local ideas and recommendations

• Keep regulators on the straight and narrow

• Provide scientifically based information

• Insure that the natural resource (water) is used by city, agricultural, industrial, and domestic dwellings in a responsible manner

• Contribute to the establishment of various regulations

• Protect water resources of area

• Influence State policy - population growth

• Form coalition to protect SWGA interests

• Define important issues

Where do we go from here?

• Be an active participant in future water issues and decisions

• More active integration of different stakeholder groups

• Interact closer with other locations to express concerns

• Monitoring

• Dialog &participation

• Contributions through meetings (feedback) in each State and within stakeholder groups

• Implement regulation of regional water resources

• Water sessions-education at all levels

• Follow process of issue resolution

• Regional representation in stakeholder advisory groups

• Summarize results of summit, distribute to participants, share new information

• Expand participation to citizenry

• Keep all stakeholders involved equally

• Continuous open public meetings and seek greatest public input for any policy development

• Develop a regional and statewide consensus of priority issues

• Given resource concerns, determine (recommend) allocation policy

• Have additional stakeholder meetings to promote a holistic agreement

• Solicit input from broad natural resources community

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.