Clear up water mess

A paper mill's bankruptcy in St. Marys, Ga., has got a lot of the state's conservationists and environmentalists worried. Federal bankruptcy Judge Lamar W. Davis Jr. has ruled that owners of the Durango Paper Mill, which went belly up in 2002, may include water rights in auctioning off assets to pay the firm's creditors.

Georgia's attorney general, as well as the state Environmental Protection Division, petitioned to have the water rights - basically a permit to pump millions of gallons of groundwater each day - removed from the sale, but Davis was not moved.

This could be a very touchy issue affecting industries and communities on both sides of the Savannah River, says Braye Boardman. Boardman is Gov. Sonny Perdue's Augusta representative on the committee working with South Carolina to share water resources without getting into rowdy court battles. He says that if the bankruptcy ruling stands, it could pave the way for state water permits to be sold to the highest bidder.

For example, if a major local industry didn't use its allowable limit of water, it could perhaps sell its excess to an out-of-state interest wanting to get its hands on Georgia's water. This is what has Georgia Water Coalition spokeswoman Julie Mayfield concerned.

The coalition, which includes the Georgia Conservancy and the Georgia Wildlife Federation among many other environmental groups, says Judge Davis made a mistake: Nobody owns Georgia's water, unless it's the public - and in any event, state law requires it be managed by the EPD. Moreover, permit trading was turned down by the legislature two years ago.

Mayfield would like EPD Director Carol Couch to force the issue by revoking the Durango permit. Durango's "water rights" will be worthless if it can't be transferred. EPD's legal position should be that whenever an industrial water- dependent company changes hands, a new permit must be applied for.

This issue - that water usage should be permitted, not deeded - likely would be challenged by Durango's lawyers, but the matter would be litigated in state court, not federal court, and that would considerably boost the state's chance of winning - and having a favorable ruling upheld on appeal in federal court, if it goes that far.

The point is, it will be difficult for the EPD to control how Georgians' water resources are used if the water can be bought and sold by private interests. Besides, public assets such as water should not be sold to cover private losses. We agree with Boardman and Mayfield that this water mess needs to be cleared up - and soon.