The Atlanta region must do a better job managing its precious water resources. More than 1,000 miles of rivers and streams do not meet water quality standards and many have yet to be tested. This unfortunate environmental situation is compounded by court-ordered regulatory requirements that must be met in the next few years. The primary challenge comes not from our public sewers and private industries, but from polluted runoff from construction sites, lawns, parking lots and other developed areas. It has been estimated that it will cost up to $1.5 billion to build a stormwater management system for the region and $500 million per year to maintain and operate that system. It comes as no surprise that in a region that grew by more than one million people in the 1990’s, our sewer infrastructure is showing multiple signs of stress. More than 400 million gallons of waste water are discharged in our rivers and streams. Many sewer systems are aging or are too small to accommodate the future growth of the region. Future waste water systems will need to pollute less and handle more waste. Building them will cost estimated $1.5 billion. Despite receiving over 50 inches of average annual rainfall, Atlanta faces a water supply challenge. The region is situated at the headwaters of the river basins that supply our water. The Chattahoochee river is small relative to the major source of water for other large metropolitan areas. Some experts estimate that the region only has enough water to accommodate population growth through 2030. The establishment of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (commonly referred to as the “Water District”) was a direct result of the work of the Regional Business Coalition (RBC) and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. In 2000, the Clean Water Initiative process brought together business and community leaders to assess our water quality challenges and develop recommendations to answer them. The final recommendations were thoroughly integrated into legislation that created the Water District in 2001. Following legislative efforts, RBC board members were appointed to the Water District’s board, executive committee and basin advisory councils. J.T. Williams, Henry County Chamber of Commerce and RBC board member, chairs the Water District’s finance committee. Under his leadership, this committee, and subsequently the full board, agreed to assess each county 80 cents per person to fund the work of the district. With due haste, the Water District has begun developing a short-term waste water plan, a long-term waste water plan, a watershed protection plan and a water supply plan. RBC is engaged at many levels to ensure timely progress on meeting water quality standards and developing adequate water supply and sewer capacity – critical ingredients of regional economic vitality. < < B A C K < <