how can a state just move its border? Wouldn't Tennessee want to sue over the lost land and even the lost revenue from a water sharing deal?

I wonder what the people who live on the piece of land think...Do the WANT to be part of Georgia? And what will Tennessee have to say about this? I'm sure they don't want to just give up part of their state because people in Atlanta won't stop watering their lawns.

The USA is all one country, isn't it? Why can't they just share the water?

It's not just a matter of magically transporting the great lakes to water the south. Moving the water south will require a lot of energy. It's a balance -- warmer southern weather vs. water. Energy to heat houses vs. energy to cool houses PLUS energy to transport water.

In my opinion Atlanta is big enough and the available water should limit its growth.

Wonder what Georgia lawmakers would say if Tennesse lawmakers started to make a fuss about moving THEIR boundary 1 mile south? Bet they wouldn't think it too funny.

I wonder if all this stuff will get worse as water tables drop and the number of people increases , I can remember something last year about Illinois wanting more of Wisconsin Water .

How will governments in the future control larger more powerful states from draining natural resources from smaller less densely populated states, water and other natural resources provide the lifeline for some state economies from tourism.

Matt, unlike most countries in the world the USA is actually 50 countries that came together in an agreement to support trade between them and provide for a common defense. In most cases in the world, what georgia (GA) wants to do to tennesse (TN) would probably result in TN standing its army at the GA, TN border and preparing for invasion, but because GA and TN are members of the Unites States, they will settle the issue peacefully. You can think of the federal government of the US as a UN that kind of works.

Hopefully, this will be more successful than Sonny's state-sanctioned pray-for-water service. What ever happened to a separation of church and state... and water conservation for that matter?

Why doesn't Tennesee just let Georgia run a pipe thru to the river? No borders need to change. Just allow GA access to the water, if they really need it that badly. Now Georgia should also restrict sensless water waste by imposing some rules that restrict people from doing stupid things like washing McD's and 7/11 parking lots down every night. Geezus Man, Get a Leaf Blower! Fine people whose sprinklers water the streets instead of the lawn and do nothing to fix it. Something to that extent, I think, could help as well.

Something similar happened in Australia a few years ago – it was discovered that part of the border between the two most populous states had never been officially proclaimed. It was all settled amicably, perhaps because there wasn't a lot of water in the disputed zone anyway.

This Age story has some background.

Technically speaking, Georgia would have to be re-ratified as a state as its original boundaries would have changed and (part of it) would be a new state.

Also, consider people who invested in (expensive) land next to the Tennesse River with the premise being that they would have ready access to water. Should they be slighted? Wouldn't this diminish their investment? They could sue over that....

"In my opinion Atlanta is big enough and the available water should limit its growth. "

Usually people move towards jobs, and places that don't have jobs tend to have declining populations, and those with strong job growth tend to have increasing populations.

To keep Atlanta stable would require a strong job market in a desirable place to live that also doesn't have "growth limitation issues*" of it's own.

*water, traffic, housing, etc.

Year 2080: USA = United State of Georgia
Reason: Georgia was thirsty.

This seems to me to be an obvious grab for water- not land. They want Tennessee to freak out and say "NO! you can't have our land and water!" so GA can just say, "Ok, then how about we just run up a little bitty pipe and take some water?"

It's like a teenager asking her mom if she can get a tattoo and when she freaks asking if she can get her ears pierced instead.

"Now Georgia should also restrict sensless water waste by imposing some rules that restrict people from doing stupid things like washing McD's and 7/11 parking lots down every night. Geezus Man, Get a Leaf Blower!"

How about "get a broom?"

Worked when I had to work in a grocery store long ago, and works in my garage and driveway today.

Georgia has water problems and the people there are still allowed to use sprinklers on lawns and use hoses to wash driveways and carparks??!?!?

That's crazy. It doesn't sound like they have a water problem at all then.

Here in Australia we have had water shortages for the last 6 years or so. Most parts of the country have restrictions on water use. Depending on where you live you can only use sprinklers once a week, if at all. No using hoses on paved areas at all. No washing cars unless it is at an establishment that uses recycled water. No washing cars at home. The water supply in some rural communities was so bad that they had to have water trucked in and there were restrictions on how many loads of laundry each household could do a week. Water utilities give out free egg timers for people to use in the shower so that they have short showers.

Have they really not implemented water restrictions in Georgia?
I would have thought that if you don't have much water using less would be the answer, not taking it from somebody else.

Having said all that, perhaps Georgia should consider something like this renewable way to desalinate sea water using wave power: CETO wave power desalination
Tests off the coast of Western Australia have proved successful and the company is expecting that its CETO technology will be ready for commercial installations in 12 months.

Rosie... Brilliant! Great comment!

Having spent the last 3 years in metro Atlanta, GA, prior to now being relocated to VA (which is even worse in the arena of conservation), the "powers that be" knew 2 years ago about the impending water crisis and elected to do NOTHING. We had the bare minimum water restrictions, etc. and then all of a sudden this past summer, they pretended like this "just happened." Of course, the prior year was an election year, so no one would dare talk about the impending water crisis and their lack of solution - especially good old Gov. Perdue, who really is not too in tune with the environmental concerns of the state of GA. Scary to think this is probable representative of a lot of states.

Actually, yes, we do have water restrictions. I live in the metro Atlanta area. As far as sprinklers watering pavement, we're not allowed to water at all, with one exception... food. If you have a vegetable garden, you can water it, but not the grass or flowers around it. You can't wash your car, unless you take it to a car wash that recycles their water. People have been installing rain barrels for the occasional times that it does rain (I've got two myself) just to be able to water any flowers or do anything else outdoors that requires water.

A lot of companies have been replacing toilets, water faucets, and investigating grey water systems. In fact, Chateau Elan, where I got married this past November, was using grey water to water just in front of their winery, just so they would have a little bit of green grass there.

As far as the outcome of the Tennessee / Georgia border dispute, I can see both sides. How about we let the residents in those 51 square miles take a vote as to which state they'd rather be a part of, and let that settle it? (Chances are they'll choose Tennessee, if for no other reason than to not have to deal with changing addresses, checks, driver's licenses, etc., but it seems the only fair way I can think of to resolve it...)

If you look at the area in question, you'll see Georgia is only about 200 feet from the bank of the river. But the only reason it's that close is because of the federally-owned TVA dam that created Nickajack Lake on that section of the river. I wonder if when the dam was built, it's height was chosen for exactly this reason of keeping Georgia's greedy hands off of it.

As an Atlantan, I'm pretty tired of all the comments such as:
"I'm sure they don't want to just give up part of their state because people in Atlanta won't stop watering their lawns."

and

"Georgia has water problems and the people there are still allowed to use sprinklers on lawns and use hoses to wash driveways and carparks??!?!?"

It's unfortunate that a drought and water shortages prompted people to conserve water and become more conscious of their water use, but...that's exactly what is happening. In a strange way, I'm actually somewhat grateful for this "crises" because it has brought a lot of awareness to conservation. I'm not sure about the 'burbs, but in the city, I rarely see anyone using water to irrigate lawns, wash their cars, etc. Maybe it's due to the stiff fines (and even jail time) imposed if someone is caught watering their lawns/washing their cars, but people are changing...
It's not just Atlantans/Georgians who act as though water is a neverending resource...it's happening all over America.

Ligthen up on Atlanta, our politicians/lawmakers might be ignorant jerks, but, for the most part, Atlantans/Georgians are starting to change.

whew...

Why is it that everyone is giving Atlanta such a hard time? Is the media smearing us in other states? No one is telling Los Angeles, Phoenix, or New York to "suck it up and quit watering your lawns." Maybe that's because they are already filching water from other areas outside their own watershed.

For general public aedification: Atlanta is one of the few large US cities (perhaps the only one) that only draws water from its own watershed. That is, all the water that Atlanta uses fell on the metro Atlanta/North Georgia area as rain originally. None of it comes via aqueduct (as in NYC), or from a massive river flowing from several other states (as in Los Angeles), or from a series of reservoirs that choke off an entire river until it is dry (as in Phoenix).

So in Atlanta's case, it's not an issue of gluttony (because I know that water is used just as irresponsibly in many other US cities) but of over reliance on such a small river (which we also share with the states of Alabama and Florida).

The drought issue is not just an Atlanta issue. Large sections of the Southeast have been over-developed. The South need not rise againist the South.

Fact: There's very little land available that can be turned into watershed now. WE have a limited water supply with little room to expand water respurces.

The residences, industries and vacation homes in all Southeastern states have increased expontentially. Atlanta gets singled - out when water supply is really a regional and national problem. It will take collaboration with all States to deal with the problem. There are no quick fixes. Everyone needs to start making concrete changes to water comsuming habits. Save now and we can drink later.

Thank you to dokein for your comments. I also live in Atlanta. The comments that you quoted strike me as unproductive, uninformed, and overly critical. The problem here is certainly not that "people in Atlanta won't stop watering their lawns." I can't actually remember the last time I saw a sprinkler going.

Here's another previous comment: "In my opinion Atlanta is big enough and the available water should limit its growth. " Right, but growth is not the only issue here. We have a a challenge sorting out how to supply water for the people who already live here (the growth that has already happened.)

I am not backing the idea of moving the border, but I would rather see a constructive suggestion rather than many of the critical comments which have been made here.

well, it would seem to us ignorant folk that the state of georgia should know that droughts will come periodically and that, again, we're just ignorant kansans, they should plan ahead for that eventuality and jay whitlow was telling me that he thinks state lines, however wrong they were drawn, should not be up for change, thank you all.

Us Chattanoogans still find it ironic that Georgia built the world's largest aquarium (8.1 MILLION gallons) in Atlanta, then still act surprised when they are out of water. While I realize it's not that simple, it's still amusing.

I live a half mile from Lake Erie. When I bought my property I looked for a few things: Urban, cafes, parks, vegetation, tree size and yes I wanted to be near a big supply of drinking water. I got several sources...the lake and there happens to be a few rivers that run though the city plus there is an underground spring that many have forgotten about. To me this adds property value.

Up here we all are talking about the water shortage other states have. We get our share of rain fall and people water their gardens. There is a 4 week drought we experience. But that is it, 4 weeks. We are very fortunate.

I am installing a water cistern and don't use "new" water to water the yard. But unfortunately most people up here don't conserve water. I see many sprinklers set to water the pavement and pedestrians walking by. It makes me ill.

I was thinking about what one senator?/Congressman? said about sending great lake water down to the south. I was wonder if the lakes could handle a large draw of water. They are already several feet lower then where they should be. Though, I think sharing drinking water is the human thing to do.

Then a relative chimed in. What trumps a federal law? An international treaties. Apparently, the U.S. states around the great lakes have to first share water with Canada.

And if we want to "share" our water we can only share our state's portion and can not dip into Canada's share. The only way around this is to ask Canada to share (sell?) their water with the U.S.

I believe the lakes are split 50/50 in the NYS area.

I use to live in Georgia and the water issues have been going on for years, in the deep south the largest complaint against atlanta is not the water consumption but one simple little problem construction. A few years ago atlanta started negotiations with alabama to buy water because they could not supply the current need, at the same time approved the construction of I cant remember how many thousands of new housing units (condos , houses, apartments), there only thought is the new tax payers and businesses.
Use some common sense if you cant provide the infrastructure dont expand until you can

Let those Tennessee rednecks drink and bathe in that moonshine they are famous for!