//Florida Warns of Apalachicola River’s Georgia-Caused Doom

Florida Warns of Apalachicola River’s Georgia-Caused Doom

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TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — Florida’s oystering community is asking for Georgia to share more water in the river connects the two states. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Florida filed a 65-page brief asking the Supreme Court to reject Special Master Paul Kelly’s recommendation.

Kelly wrote in his December recommendation that the collapse, that Florida attributes to Georgia’s upstream water usage, resulted from Florida’s mismanagement. Kelly adds that the low flows that caused the collapse was caused by drought and not Georgia’s use.

However, Florida’s brief argued that “Georgia’s insatiable upstream consumption [of water] has decimated Apalachicola’s oyster fisheries.”

Florida’s success could potentially mean putting restrictions on water used by Georgia farmers for irrigation.