Tallapoosa subject of water talks

The dam at Lake Martin, created in 1929, holds back the waters of the Tallapoosa River. The river begins in northwest Georgia and flows along more than 250 miles to join the Coosa River and form the Alabama River.

By: William White | Opelika Auburn News
Published: April 12, 2008

ALEXANDER CITY — Water has no political affiliation.

“Water is not a Democrat or Republican, or a rich man or poor man issue,” Alabama Rep. Betty Carol Graham, 81st District, said Friday. “In my opinion, water is a basic American need of every citizen.”

Graham was speaking in reference to a resolution on a statewide water management plan developed by the Legislature.

“We realized we that have got to make an assumption that everybody has got to have a reliable and ample supply of water in every section of the state,” she said.

If approved by the governor, the resolution will create the Alabama Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy and Management.

Graham was keynote speaker at the fourth annual State of Our Watershed Conference on the Tallapoosa River Basin at the Central Alabama Community College.

Along with Graham, participants heard from more than a dozen speakers on a variety of topics, including the drought, a need for more comprehensive water planning, the relicensing of Martin Dam and state water policy.

Bill Deutsch, TWP director, Auburn University Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, said this conference on a single watershed or basin is the only one he is familiar with in the state.
For more information visit the Tallapoosa Watershed Project Web site: www.twp.auburn.edu.