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Amend HB 1226 to Keep Our Rivers Flowing and Protect Our Drinking Water
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HB1226 creates a new GEFA division to fund and permit reservoirs. In the House it was amended to better protect our water supply, but those chnages were stripped in the Senate NR&E committee and must be restored on the Senate floor.
HB1226, Speaker Glenn Richardson's Reservoir Bill, creates a new division within the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority that has the sole responsibility for funding and permitting reservoirs. As the bill worked its way through the House Natural Resources & Environment committee, it was amended to better protect our water supply, but those changes were stripped in the Senate Natural Resources & Environment committee and must be restored on the Senate floor.
Specifically, we need to restore the section of the bill that ensures that greenspace around any new reservoir remains free of development. We want to ensure that taxpayers fund reservoirs that are used for water supply, not subdivision amenities. Without the greenspace language, the bill essentially puts a welcome mat out for developers at each new reservoir. Subdivisions would threaten our drinking water supplies.
Also, we must restore language that requires the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Director to consider certain criteria that will protect downstreamers before approving a new interbasin transfer, that is, a transfer of water from one watershed into another. These are the same criteria that General Assembly agreed upon in passing the Statewide Water Plan. Currently, before the State issues a permit to allow a new transfer of millions of gallons of water, the law only requires that the EPD director issue a press release seven days in advance.
Your message will be sent to each of the following targets:
Your State Senator
A sample message appears below, which you may edit before sending.
Please Amend HB 1226 to Keep Our Rivers Flowing and Protect Our Drinking Water
Dear Senator,
As one of your constituents, I am writing to ask that when considering HB 1226, please support amendments that keep our rivers flowing and protect our drinking water.
Specifically, I am urging you to restore the protective language that requires the Georgia EPD Director to consider the more than 20 criteria laid out in the statewide water plan before approving new interbasin transfers. Currently, outside the metro Atlanta water district, the law only requires the EPD director to issue a press release seven days before issuing a new permit that could transfer millions of gallons of water out of my river basin. We need your leadership to better protect our rivers, streams and lakes.
Also, I urge you to restore the language in the bill that directs the State Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Division of Georgia DNR to acquire the land around the reservoir necessary to protect water quality and provide us with passive recreation opportunities. We need to ensure no development should be permitted on any reservoir or its surrounding greenspace. We need to protect our drinking water supplies, not build amenity lakes for new subdivisions.
Thank you for your consideration of my comments and your service to our community.
Sincerely,
Your name and address here
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