Georgia Tech and the Water Wars

Scott Zadig

In recent news, the three states of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have been having “water wars” concerning the rights to use Lake Lanier as a source of water. The states of Florida and Alabama have been having issues with the amount of water they receive specifically from the Chattahoochee River. They do not receive enough water to meet their needs and they took the issue to Supreme Court. In the court ruling, a federal judge ruled that Georgia has been illegally tapping water from Lake Lanier and using water that should have gone to Florida and Alabama. Paul Magnuson, the federal judge that made this ruling, ordered that if Atlanta’s allocation of water does not return to what they were in 1970’s within the next three years, then Atlanta’s water will be significantly restricted.

If a solution is not found and the court ruling takes its affect, the city of Atlanta will suffer major consequences. There would be a deficit of approximately 302 million gallons a day and that the deficit would increase to 497 million gallons per day by the year 2035. Not only would this have a significant impact on the city of Atlanta, but also it would greatly affect the Georgia Institute of Technology. Georgia Tech is home to 9,700 students, which is approximately 54% of the student body. The water shortages would make Georgia Tech a difficult place to attend school, specifically to students who are from out of state and have to live on campus in order to attend classes. This fact alone would turn away potential undergraduate students if they do not have the option to live on campus and have a legitimate source of water. Reduction in the student body would most likely result from this court ruling and would in turn hurt the university as a whole. It would not only reduce the number of students, but the diversity of the student population would decrease as well because students from other states and countries are not going to attend a university that is inhabitable. Georgia Tech and its students make significant contributions to the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and the world. A solution needs to be implemented before a ruling of such substantial impact takes place.