Georgia Farmers Lash Out at Atlanta (water wars)

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2007/nov/14/111402276.html

CAMILLA, Ga. (AP) - Southwest Georgia is one of the most productive agricultural regions in Dixie, but you wouldn't know it from the soil under the corn, peanuts and cotton. It can be sandy, it can be pebbly, and it doesn't hold water very well.

That begins to explain why irrigation is so vital around here - and why the mere suggestion that some of the region's water might be taken away fills folks with fear and resentment.

With a historic drought gripping the Southeast, Georgia farmers are increasingly worried that their needs will be sacrificed to those of Atlanta - a city of runaway growth and seemingly unquenchable thirst - or water-guzzling Florida.

"Atlanta needs to take a hard look at what's happening in the metro area," said Bubba Johnson, a 68-year-old farmer who grows cotton and corn on a 500-acre plot. "There's going to be a heck of a battle if they try to come down here to get the water."

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