The Principles Defining the Georgia Water Coalition’s Work

The members of the Georgia Water Coalition work collaboratively and transparently with each other to achieve specific goals based on the following principles.

1. Mission and Guiding Principles

The Georgia Water Coalition’s mission is to protect and care for Georgia’s surface water and groundwater resources, which are essential for sustaining economic prosperity, providing clean and abundant drinking water, preserving diverse aquatic habitats for wildlife and recreation, strengthening property values, and protecting the quality of life for current and future generations.

The GWC’s Guiding Principles

Join the Georgia Water Coalition

The Georgia Water Coalition is committed to protecting and caring for Georgia’s surface water and groundwater resources. We invite your organization to join us in this mission. Ask your environmental group, business, church, university, homeowner association, hunting and fishing club, or other civic organization to become a Georgia Water Coalition member. When you are ready, read the membership agreeement that follows and then fill out the membership form below it to join. Once submitted, a coalition coordinator will contact you. Please note that membership is only for organizations, businesses and clubs. It is not for individuals. If you are an individual seeking to connect with a local river group, send us a message, and we will connect you with your local group.

Georgia Water Coalition Membership Agreement

1. Mission and Guiding Principles

The Georgia Water Coalition’s mission is to protect and care for Georgia’s surface water and groundwater resources, which are essential for sustaining economic prosperity, providing clean and abundant drinking water, preserving diverse aquatic habitats for wildlife and recreation, strengthening property values, and protecting the quality of life for current and future generations.

The GWC’s Guiding Principles

The members of the GWC work collaboratively and transparently with other Coalition members to achieve specific goals based on the following principles.

A. The surface waters and groundwater of Georgia are public resources to be managed by the state in the public interest and in a sustainable manner to protect natural systems, meet human and economic needs, account for the effects of climate change, and correct historic inequities.

B. Effective water management requires ongoing, rigorous evaluation and planning that is:

• transparent and informed by citizen input;
• based on watersheds, river basins, and aquifers;
• informed by the best available scientific data;
• reliant on uniform, consistently applied, and enforceable standards; and
• implemented, enforced, and timely revised as necessary.

C. In order to ensure that every Georgian has access to clean water, biases and inequities must be addressed, and all Georgians must have equal opportunity to a seat at the decision-making table. Discriminatory biases, such as racism, are embedded in our society’s institutions. These biases influence public resources, such as community processes, priority setting, and resource allocation. As a result, pollution and toxins disproportionately impact the health of marginalized communities, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrant, and lower wealth communities.

D. Shared waters must be apportioned equitably among all users to meet reasonable needs and assure the long-term sustainability of the natural systems on which those water supplies depend.

E. Effective water management and allocation requires conservation as the primary management method. All Georgians must strive to become better water stewards for those living in a downstream area, adjacent state, or elsewhere in a given river basin.