There may be some truth to the adage that when lawyers dominate government, solutions to most problems take on a legal instead of a technical characteristic. Makes sense when you think on the US State of Georgia threatening to sue the US Army Corps of Engineers over water release rates, proposing to slip the State border a mile (into a reservoir), and now this:

It would take an act of Congress to get more drinking water out of Lake Lanier for metro Atlanta, a federal appellate court ruled Tuesday. Alabama and Florida immediately declared a major victory in the 18-year, tri-state water war, with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley calling it "one of the most important" legal decisions in his state's history.

"The ruling invalidates the massive water grab that Georgia tried to pull off," Riley said in a statement.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit comes at a critical juncture, with the three states rushing toward a Feb. 15 deadline to reach a long-term, water-sharing agreement.

Via::Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Image credit::Groundwater, Water Tank

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