Urgent Action Needed on Metro District Water Planning!

The Chattahoochee River needs your help NOW. The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which governs regional and watershed planning across the 15-county metro Atlanta region (Metro District), has presented a plan for managing our water supply that puts our future at risk. The plan . . .

• Weakens our region’s conservation goals, despite our ongoing drought.
• Relies on expensive solutions that we can’t afford.
• Ignores ongoing court actions that may affect use of Lake Lanier.
• Fails to protect water quality.

Please tell the Metro District to stop wasting our water, time, and money. Urge them to go back to the drawing board and get serious about water conservation and water quality. Here’s what you can do:

• Comment on the draft plan before January 31 (click here)
• Attend a hearing next week (click here)

Learn more about the Metro District draft plan and what you can do here.

How to Stay Informed During the State Legislative Session

Georgia's state legislature will convene on Monday, January 12, and last 40 working days, ending in late March or early April. Our water resources WILL BE AFFECTED by decisions our legislators make.  Listen to Sally Bethea's recent interview on WABE previewing water issues that may come up in this session, and bookmark these links:

Click here to identify your legislators at My Elected Officials.

To find out the current status of water-related legislation, go to the Georgia Water Coalition website or the Georgia Conservation Voters website.

To stay informed about environmental legislation and receive alerts, join the Georgia Environmental Action Network (GEAN) by clicking here.

If you have a specific question about legislation or UCR’s position on a bill, please email us at info@ucriverkeeper.org.

Around the State: Clean Water Victory in Rome!

Congratulations to the Coosa Basin River Iniative (CRBI) for their work in protecting 7,000 feet of stream that feeds the Oostanaula River, Rome's drinking water source.  Learn more about this clean water victory here and more about CRBI here.

Influencing Stimulus Funding - Special Webcast

Clean Water Network, American Rivers and River Network will present a webcast on how you can influence the stimulus funding in your state on Thursday, Jan 15, at 1:30 pm EST.  To participate you must RSVP to jenniferpeters@cwn.org by Monday, January 12th.

Most discussion about delivering money for water infrastructure projects has focused on the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF). Each state has a specific annual process for spending these funds by establishing a "Priority Project List." The stimulus money is likely to be directed towards projects on this list. Unfortunately, there may be projects on the list that are not good for your watershed.

For more information on this special webcast, please contact Jennifer or Natalie at Clean Water Network, 202-547-4208. For more information on Clean Water Network, click here.

Thank You UCR Supporters!

A heartfelt thanks to all who gave support to UCR in 2008 through their time, money, and in-kind donations of gifts and services.

To see how your support fo UCR made a difference in 2008, click here to read our 2008 accomplishments.