Florida has until Monday to defend its lawsuit against Georgia over water use from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system

 Florida has until Monday to defend its lawsuit against Georgia over water use from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system.

Florida has to respond to a Special Master’s denial of their request to restrict Georgia’s water use from the river system that starts in North Georgia and ends at the Apalachicola Bay.

For nearly 30 years Florida has argued that Georgia is taking too much water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, hurting oysters and other species in the Apalachicola River and Bay.

Florida argued that Georgia’s water consumption has brought historically-low water flows into the Apalachicola Bay and has caused the local oyster industry to collapse because of higher salinity, increased disease and predator intrusion.

Until recently, Apalachicola Bay accounted for approximately 10 percent of the nation’s Eastern oyster supply. 

The oyster industry in Apalachicola collapsed in 2012 leading to a Commercial Fisheries Disaster Declaration from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2013. 

In December, Special Master Paul Kelly Jr. ruled that Florida failed to prove the issue was Georgia's fault and said the evidence has shown that Georgia’s water use is reasonable.

Kelly is the second special master to rule in Georgia’s favor.

The court received Kelly’s recommendations in January and initially asked for Florida’s response by March 13.

Florida attorneys requested a 30-day extension, citing “extraordinary complexity of the factual and legal issues raised by the Special Master’s Report.

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