John Sibley's Talk on Water Resource Issues
Center Annual Meeting
Saint Simons Island
November 10, 2001
Natural systems have value in their own right - this proposition should be the basis of water policy.
Long-established in common law as a shared resource, for at least 3 reasons:
- vital to life itself
- downstream impacts due to the mobility of the resource
- whole ecosystem depends on it, not just people.
Increasingly evident that there is a limited supply, especially with drought & under greater
demand, therefore we must work on reducing the demand side through conservation.
The Georgia business community is grappling with water rights and markets for buying water.
There is a proposal to market water rights, trade permits for support growth - with dangerous implications.
Attended a 'Water Summit' in southwest Georgia (7th in a series of such meetings), this one on reservoirs.
- Reservoirs do not produce water, they divert and retain it, except what is evaporated
- Reservoirs change the dynamics & flow, can adversely affect downstream areas
A user-friendly website is proposed so that members of the public can become more aware of such issues.
On Friday (day prior) attended a statewide joint study committee, where 42 water issues were identified:
Those of highest priority were picked to address in the next 18 months.
- 1. framework to serve as the planning structure
- 2. options for regional water management
- 3. interbasin transfers (from one river system to another)
- 4. water rights, water as public resource.
Must be able to change the rules as science advances so that we do not unjustly constrain
efficient use and effective protection of water resources.
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