U.S. Supreme Court Wants Feds’ Opinion on Water Wars

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From: THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
In a sign that it is considering a long-running water dispute involving Florida, Georgia and Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday indicated it wants the federal government’s views on a lawsuit filed last year by Florida. Justices invited the U.S. solicitor general to submit a brief about the case, which stems from questions about whether Georgia water withdrawals have damaged Apalachicola Bay in Northwest Florida. The three states have battled for more than 20 years about water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. Florida has argued that water use at the top of the system, in the metro Atlanta area, has cut the flow of freshwater downstream to Apalachicola Bay and damaged the area’s signature oyster industry. Florida filed the lawsuit in October against Georgia, but a spokesman for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said at the time that the lawsuit was “frivolous.”