March 1, 2002

A severe drought has been declared for a second consecutive year in Georgia's Flint River Basin, which clears the way for implementation of the Flint River Drought Protection Act.

"The declaration is based on data relating to winter precipitation, three-month precipitation outlooks, stream flow and groundwater levels," said Harold Reheis, director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD). The EPD director has authority to issue the declaration and begin proceedings to ensure the health of the river.

The Act established a fund to compensate farmers in the Lower Flint River Basin who voluntarily stop irrigating their crops with surface water during a severe drought year. The compensation eligibility applies only to surface water irrigation and does not apply to groundwater wells.

The severe drought declaration will result in the 2002 Flint River Drought Protection auction. However, the process will be significantly different from last year's auction.

Farmers who qualify for participation in the auction will be asked to submit a sealed bid of up to $150 per acre of irrigated land. Bids will be accepted, beginning with the lowest, until an adequate amount of land has been taken out of irrigation.

Only those farmers who are permitted surface-water agricultural irrigators in the Lower Flint River Basin and are using streams that flow year-round — also called "perennial streams" — as their water source, are eligible to participate in the auction. Farmers also must prove that the acreage submitted for the auction was irrigated in the last three years and would be irrigated again this year under normal conditions.

Farmers who are eligible for participation in the auction are being sent information packages. Farmers must sign and return the required documents with a postmark no later than March 15, 2002.

EPD scientists and engineers are monitoring the drought conditions using data collected from the Offices of the State Geologist and the State Climatologist.

Streamflows at measuring stations in the Flint River Basin were at or below 10-year drought levels. A 10-year drought is a drought that would be expected to occur every 10 years during a normal weather cycle. Groundwater levels in southwest Georgia also were equal to or less than levels of one year ago.

The first auction under the Flint River Drought Protection Act was held last March. As a result, more than 33,000 acres of Lower Flint River Basin farmland were not irrigated last summer that otherwise would have been irrigated. EPD estimated that this irrigation stoppage saved more than 130 million gallons of water per day.

For more information on the Flint River Drought Protection Act, call 404-657-8282 or go to the EPD web site at www.dnr.state.ga.us/dnr/environ.

News Media Contact:

Kevin Chambers
(404) 651-7970