ATLANTA --- A new policy laying the groundwork for water planning across Georgia won approval from a panel of agency heads, lawmakers and residents Tuesday, setting the stage for a legislative struggle over a dwindling resource.

The plan must be approved by the General Assembly before it can take effect.

Environmentalists and other critics who have complained for months that the policy would allow metro Atlanta to dry out the rest of the state to fuel its growth immediately said they would ask the Assembly to scrap the proposal and start over.

But Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson all issued statements voicing support for the proposed Georgia Water Council policy.

"Water is a vital resource for all Georgians, and this plan, which now goes to the General Assembly, gives Georgia a framework for sustaining and protecting water for generations to come," Mr. Perdue said.

State officials involved in crafting the policy said approval of the document marked a key accomplishment for the future of Georgia.

"It is a plan for the entire state and one I hope that this council and this state will be proud of," said Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch, who has steered the process.

The policy outlines measures for storing and conserving water, though the Environmental Protection Division and advocates differ on whether those measures can be strictly enforced.

And it carves out a set of regions that will be used to drive local water planning.

The boundaries of those regions, though, have become the focus of controversy, with environmentalists saying they do not coincide closely enough with the state's river basins.

Opponents say the plan would do little to protect downstream communities from the expanding thirst of metro Atlanta, caught in the grip of historic drought.

The plan passed Tuesday does not split up the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which touches on five of the state's six major watersheds.

State officials say that the district, which was created by the General Assembly in 2001, cannot be dissolved by the policy because the Water Council can't overturn existing law.