Tenn. governor opposes sending more water to Georgia

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen says he doesn't want to see more water being diverted out of Tennessee to relieve drought conditions in Atlanta.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin recently suggested exploring ways to pipe in water from other areas, including from the Tennessee or Savannah rivers, although Georgia officials said they have no plans to pursue such a plan.

But Bredesen said the state needs to be careful in managing its water.

``I would have a real problem ... with a wholesale transfer of water out of the Tennessee watershed,'' Bredesen said.

``I just think it's one of the very important natural resources that we have in Tennessee, and (we) should be very, very cautious about allowing it to be degraded in any way,'' he said.

Bredesen, a Democrat, said he has no objections to the amounts of water currently sent outside the state under Tennessee's Interbasin Water Transfer Act. The law allows state regulators to control diversions between watersheds.

Bredesen said Chattanooga's Hamilton County already shares some Tennessee River water with nearby Dalton, Ga.

``That's probably appropriate, and that's basically suburban to Chattanooga,'' he said. ``I don't have a problem with that.''

The 562-mile-long Tennessee River is the fifth largest river in the country. About 5.8 billion gallons per day of Tennessee River water flow through Chattanooga every day.

Georgia officials say there's about 80 days' worth of drinking water left in Lake Lanier, which supplies 3 million people with water. But the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the region's water sources, contends there's enough left for about 280 days.

Former Chattanooga mayor and current Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he called Bredesen recently when he saw ``conversations beginning to take place about Atlanta and about water.''

``If you remember when I was mayor, I was very concerned about any water leaving the Tennessee River basin, leaving Tennessee for any parts of the country, i.e. Georgia,'' said Corker.

Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., also opposes water transfers out of Tennessee.

``When you talk about taking the Tennessee River and running it down to Atlanta, Georgia, I'm not that happy about that,'' he said.