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Water plan unveiled for state
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ATLANTA -- The Georgia Water Council on Thursday presented its much-awaited proposal for a comprehensive plan for the state's water management, aimed at providing adequate water for a growing population while protecting river systems and groundwater from pollution.

The 14-member council will begin reviewing the 81-page document over the next few weeks. Starting in mid-July, the agency hopes to get its first public input on the issue through its Web site, with a formal public hearing process to take place across the state later this summer. The final plan is expected to be approved by the early December, and presented to the General Assembly on the first day of the 2008 legislative session.

The plan arose from a 2004 Georgia statute requiring the creation of the state's first comprehensive water management plan. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division had to produce a draft plan by the end of this month and submit it to the Water Council, which was created as part of the statute.

Authors of the plan say it is the first that addresses Georgia's water needs over the long term as a state, instead of locally and in response to specific issues like the ongoing drought. The proposal calls for a plan that functions like a cycle instead of a one-time process.

First, the Environmental Protection Division will conduct water resource assessments to determine the state's water quantity and quality. Regional water planning councils will then use population and employment estimates to forecast water needs for their areas. From the forecasts, a plan will be created and proposed to the EPD.

After the plan is adopted by the agency, it would be implemented and the EPD will make water permitting decisions based on those plans.

The plan calls for a thorough scientific understanding of the state's surface and groundwater resources.

"There are some parts of the state where we are facing real limitations on the amount of water available and the ability to discharge treated wastewater," said EPD Senior policy advisor Gail Cowie, one of the authors of the plan. "In other parts of the state, we don't have the information to know how close we are to running into limitations."

The regional water planning councils have not yet been identified, and it is not yet clear how many there will be or how they will be decided. Nap Caldwell, an EPD policy and planning adviser, said the councils will be named over the next several months, and the water council will likely consider natural, political and economic boundaries in creating those groups.

"The plan rests upon the notion that if we're going to preserve those kinds of opportunities for growth and development, we must do that through an understanding of these resources from one region to another," Caldwell said. "At the very heart of this is the need to move forward with a set of regional plans."

Georgia Conservancy general counsel and vice president Julie Mayfield attended Thursday's hearing, but had not yet read the water plan when asked for comment. Still, she said she was encouraged by the presentation.

"I think what we heard is some consistency with what the Georgia Water Coalition has identified as its priorities," Mayfield said.

The coalition consists of 149 partners from across the state. The group called for a plan that protects downstream communities, addresses efficient water use, protects water quality and clean water funds and supports public input and local action.

"We need to look at the details," Mayfield said. "What we're clear about is that the ultimate authority for water management needs to remain with the EPD and not be farmed out to local water authorities. Otherwise, what you risk is unequal application of water policies throughout the state."

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On the Net:

Georgia Water Council: http://www.georgiawatercouncil.org

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Book review: Author digs into mining's complicated past and present in 'River of Lost Souls'
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Jonathan Thompson will speak about his book "River of Lost Souls" at the King's English Bookshop on Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. - photo by Amanda Olson
"RIVER OF LOST SOULS: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Spill," by Jonathan Thompson, Torrey House Press, 275 pages (nf)

Plenty has been written about the very small world of a mining town and the very broad reach of a beleaguered industry. From Loretta Lynns iconic song "Coal Miners Daughter," to the 2010 nail-biting coverage of 33 trapped Chilean miners, to the hit Broadway musicals "Paint Your Wagon" and "Billy Elliot," mining is a global story, and its one of heartbreak, hard work and hard times.

Jonathan Thompsons "River of Lost Souls" examines the many facets of risk involved in taking resources from below the earths surface. An environmental journalist, Thompson has reported on southwest Colorado for over 20 years. This book is special, however, because the Four Corners area of Colorado is his current and ancestral home. Thompson is writing about minings ecological, social, financial and political impact on his land, his landscape, his water, his people. That makes "River of Lost Souls" more than a regular reporting job.

Thompson begins with the Gold King Mine wastewater disaster of 2015, which the EPA caused while attempting to drain water near the mines entrance. The spill sent 3 million gallons of waste and tailings into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River and part of the San Juan River watershed which drains into the Colorado, affecting the Utah, Colorado and New Mexico parts of that watershed as well as the Navajo Nation.

From there, Thompson jumps into far stretches of time to 1765, when a Spanish explorer named the Animas River; to 10,000 years earlier, when Paleo-Indians roamed the rivers valley; to the meridian of time, when the ancestors of the Zuni, Hopi and Rio Grande Pueblo people inhabited the land for 500 years; to the mid-1800s and the Swedes who came to Silverton, Colorado, to mine.

Its a grand scope, but telling any story of landscape is telling a very grand story.

It also makes a complex story difficult to follow. Thompsons time warps are important, but they are jarring. His time jumps need clear dates, and Thompson doesnt always make them available. A map would also be useful. Thompsons writing is good, but his sentences can be dense and require readers to do their own mining for the riches the writing embeds. The work is worthwhile, however, as there are many moving parts in any story about mines land, culture, policy, history, money, inevitable disaster and Thompson works to examine all of them.

"River of Lost Souls" is a thoughtful read, but not a quick one. Because Thompsons writings come from 20 years of his newspaper reports, the overall feeling can be disjointed and sparse, which is distracting if one is expecting to follow a tenable thread. This is not a typical narrative with a cast of characters and a traditional story arc. Readers should approach this text as the investigation it is: puzzle pieces of a larger-than-life story that is eons old. If you are the kind of reader who wants it laid out cleanly, this is not that book. But, to Thompsons point, nothing is clean about mining that has never been the case.

Thompsons best writing is in his descriptions of people and places. His telling of how he came to Silverton is familiar and engaging. If readers approach the book with care and attention, they will be rewarded with savoring these descriptive passages when they happen.
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