Ten regional councils formed two years ago to plan for long-term use of water resources in Georgia have received a three-month extension for completing their preliminary regional plans.The Coastal Region, which includes Bulloch and eight other counties, did not need the extension through April and will still have its plan nearly complete this month, said the regional council's chair, Statesboro's Benjy Thompson. However, the Coastal council had pointed out to state officials that its plan could be subject to change because of continuing negotiations with South Carolina over saltwater intrusion into well water."Speaking for our council, we're planning to stick pretty closely to the original deadline, just because we were prepared to that point anyway," Thompson said Tuesday.With detailed information from the state, the regional councils have looked at ground and surface water resources on one hand and predicted usage on the other in an attempt to see how these will balance through 2050.A law passed in 2004 called for a State Water Plan, and that plan, when approved by the Legislature in 2008, called for 10 regional councils to create more detailed water plans of their own. An 11th regional council, Metro-North Georgia, was established under separate legislation in 2001 and is already in its second round of planning.
Regional water councils completing plans
Mission is to look at future water use