by Emma Alligood | Dec 2, 2025 | Issues, Uncategorized
As part of our efforts to promote legislation to protect the Okefenokee Swamp, the Georgia Water Coalition is planning a social media campaign that we’ll launch during the 2026 Legislative Session.
The campaign is called “40 Days For The Okefenokee” or, in hashtag terms, #40days4oke. Here’s the premise: Every day that the legislature is in session (40 days total), we want to send a letter to the governor and other legislative leaders asking them to pass legislation to protect the swamp. We are recruiting volunteers to write these letters, and more than that, to record themselves reading their letters out loud so we can post the videos on social media.
The caption under each video will say something like “We encourage Gov. Kemp and his allies in the legislature to take action to protect the Okefenokee, so we’re sending him a letter every day. This is day X of #40days4oke.”
If you’re interested in participating, here are some guidelines.
GUIDELINES:
- Write out what you want to say first! Why is protecting the Okefenokee is important to you and why are you getting involved in this fight? It could be because you want to protect the endangered and threatened species that call the Swamp home, because you’re worried about climate change and want to preserve one of the most impactful carbon sinks in Georgia, because you’ve spent time at the Swamp and want to make sure future generations get to experience it. Speak from the heart!
- If you want any help at all in writing your message, let us know! We can give you statistics and sources, and we’re also happy to help you brainstorm ideas! At some point, please say your name and where you are from (we don’t need an address, just something like “I’m John, and I live in Blue Ridge, Georgia.”). Your letter should be 150-300 words, otherwise your video will be too long. The video should be about 1-3 minutes.
- Please: No profanity or name calling. It’s ok to take “a tone” in your letter, as my mother would say, but we want to be civil. And remember, you’ll be recording yourself reading your letter. If you’d be uncomfortable saying it to the governor’s face, probably best to leave it out.
- No need to reference the campaign or the 40 days for Okefenokee stuff. Just introduce yourself and talk about why the Okefenokee is important. But you should start your letter (and your video) with “Dear Governor Kemp” then proceed with your letter.
- Once your letter is written, if you want, you can send it our way and we’ll give you some feedback before you record yourself. We can help make sure all our facts are correct and the message is clear. We’ll also use the text of your letter to caption the video and include it in the post itself.
- Find a quiet and well-lit spot. Natural light works great, so try standing near a window or filming outside. Avoid noisy backgrounds so your voice comes through clearly.
- When recording yourself, hold your phone in vertical/portrait mode. This format works better for social media. Make sure your camera is as steady as possible. Hold it yourself at arm’s length if you have a steady hand, prop it up on a table or something similar, or ask someone to hold it for you.
- Once the video is done, send it to Emma Alligood at Georgia Wildlife Federation at emma@gwf.org or if the video file is too big, you can text it to her at (706) 474-5730 and we’ll do the rest! We’ll get the post ready to go and let you know what day your letter/video will be posted.
GWC’S PLATFORM TO PROTECT THE OKEFENOKEE SWAMP:
Here are some options that the Georgia Water Coalition views as progress in protecting the Okefenokee Swamp and Trail Ridge. Take these into account when creating the script for your video.
- Pass HB 561 – The Okefenokee Protection Act
This bill would prohibit surface mining on Trail Ridge, the eastern rim of the Okefenokee Swamp. Experts say that Trail Ridge plays a critical role in the flow of water out of the swamp, and small changes there can have outsized impacts.
- Pass HB 644 – “Bad Actor” legislation
This bill makes it easier for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to deny permits to applicants who have a history of violating environmental laws or regulations, including violations in other states.
- Use state budget surplus or GOSA funds to purchase land near the Okefenokee for permanent conservation
The “Georgia Outdoors Stewardship Act,” or GOSA, uses tax revenue from the sale of outdoor equipment to fund the protection and conservation of land in our state. In 2025, more than $24 million in grants were given to conservation projects through the GOSA fund.
Thanks for your help with this campaign!
by Emma Alligood | Aug 21, 2025 | Issues, News, Press
Suspension of key planning process raises red flags
Atlanta, Georgia –The Georgia Water Coalition (GWC), a coalition of more than 260 conservation organizations, farmers, homeowners and lake associations, business owners, sportsmen’s clubs, professional associations, and religious groups that care about safeguarding Georgia’s water resources, has spent more than 20 years advocating for smart water management to protect Georgia’s rivers, lakes, streams and underground reservoirs. Today the Coalition is releasing a statement urging protection of Georgia’s water resources from data center speculation and overdevelopment.
Data centers have emerged as a major threat to the balance between growth and water resources in the state. A single data center, such as a proposed data center in Coweta County, can require 9 million gallons of water a day from the Chattahoochee River, more than twice the water withdrawal allowed to provide water to the city of Dublin.
In July, the Department of Community Affairs announced they had stopped requiring new data center proposals from entering into the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) process. Large developments that will have far reaching implications beyond a single city or community’s limits trigger the regional impact review process.
“Suspending analysis of proposed data centers is short sighted,” said Amy Sharma who chairs the Georgia Water Coalition’s Data Center Committee and is the Executive Director of Science for Georgia. “We urge the Department of Community Affairs to reverse their decision. Data centers can require a tremendous amount of water and could have huge and lasting impacts on Georgia’s rivers and water resources. Studying that impact at the regional and state level is critical.”
How much water data centers currently use is relatively unknown. And this made the DRI process important: proposed projects were required to estimate water needs. In Georgia, there is no comprehensive information about the impacts data centers have on Georgia’s water supply, energy reserve, tax dollars, or jobs.
“The Georgia Water Coalition acknowledges the need for some data centers in the state,” said Sharma. “But our groups urge adoption of policies that will clarify the impact these major water and energy users will have on Georgia’s waterways.”
GWC outlined four basic principles for data center development to follow moving forward:
Transparency. Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs should reestablish the DRI application process that previously included data centers. Additionally, the Georgia General Assembly must pass HB 528, the High Use Facilities Transparency Act. This measure would ensure uniform and transparent reporting of energy and water usage, tax incentives and abatements, and job creation by existing data center operators to properly understand what these resource intensive facilities give and take from Georgia.
State and regional level coordination. Data must be connected and shared with local, regional and state planners in a timely manner. Better data will facilitate better decision making. Transparency about actual water use will enable better planning for future water demands. With state assistance, communities can plan for a sustainable future. Otherwise, we risk water shortages, especially when the next drought arrives.
Protections for Georgia families and farmers. Data centers typically require energy, water, and other infrastructure upgrades. All of these needs can have impacts on land and water. During the planning stage, it is essential to understand what new infrastructure is needed, where it will go, and who will pay for it. SB 34 is a good start; it ensures that power upgrades are not paid for by Georgia Power customers. But we need broader protections around resource use and infrastructure upgrades.
Investments in renewable solutions and the community. The anticipated and unprecedented new energy demand presented by proposed data center operations, including on site energy back-up needs, must be met with renewable resources like solar generation paired with battery storage. Investment in renewables must happen to mitigate the water demand of data centers for on-site cooling and at the off-site energy plant that supplies them with power.
Data center developers should also work to be better neighbors and impacts on the broader community, like transmission lines, should be openly addressed. Community benefits agreements can help to balance impacts with the needs of communities.
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The Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) is a coalition of more than 260 conservation organizations, farmers, homeowners and lake associations, business owners, sportsmen’s clubs, professional associations, and religious groups that care about safeguarding Georgia’s water resources.
www.gawater.org
by Dana Skelton | Nov 8, 2017 | Issues, News, Press
On November 8, 2017, the Georgia Water Coalition released a report on the state of water and agriculture in Georgia. The Georgia Water Coalition’s new report—Watering Georgia: The State of Water and Agriculture in Georgia—highlights the history and economics of irrigated agriculture. The report explains how the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) issues and regulates 24,000 agricultural water withdrawal permits across the state. Read the report and view the press release at https://www.gawater.org/watering-georgia-report
by Dana Skelton | Nov 28, 2016 | Issues
Georgia Water Coalition released the 2016 Dirty Dozen list.
DIRTY DOZEN LIST 2016: DIRTY ENERGY PRODUCTION POLLUTES GEORGIA’S WATER
For Immediate Release – November 16, 2016: Today, Georgia’s leading water coalition named its “Dirty Dozen” for 2016, highlighting 12 of the worst offenses to Georgia’s waters. The annual Dirty Dozen shines a spotlight on threats to Georgia’s water resources. It also highlights the polluters and state policies or failures that threaten the health and safety of Georgia’s waters.
“This year’s report highlights the real, human costs of dirty energy production in Georgia’s communities,” said Joe Cook, Advocacy and Communication Coordinator for Coosa River Basin Initiative. “Toxic chemicals from coal plants are showing up in groundwater wells and in our rivers while risky proposals for transporting and extracting gas and oil threaten water supplies, wildlife and property rights.”
For instance, residents across the state are concerned about the safe disposal of the pollution left behind at coal-fired power plants. In Milledgeville, Lake Sinclair is on the receiving end of toxic coal ash water as part of the closing of Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Branch. In Jesup and Juliette, toxins associated with coal ash have shown up in groundwater. Despite these threats, the state’s recently adopted coal ash regulations will only require testing of groundwater twice a year at the many facilities storing coal ash.
“Groundwater supplies about 20 percent of the state’s drinking water,” said Emily Markesteyn Kurilla, Ogeechee Riverkeeper. “For such an important resource, the government has not been serious in protecting it. Our legislators let existing protections lapse, and they have failed to address existing pollution of wells. It’s past time to protect this important water supply.”
Other pollution issues and water supply problems associated with risky energy production are highlighted in the report. A proposed nuclear power plant in South Georgia is included because it will permanently remove millions of gallons of water from the already over-stressed Chattahoochee River.
In Southwest Georgia, a federal agency gave a private company the right of eminent domain to build a natural gas pipeline to deliver the commodity to Florida power companies. The pipeline poses a threat to the region’s drinking water while providing no benefits to Georgia residents.
And, in Northwest Georgia the potential for natural gas exploration and the use of fracking techniques has residents worried about their well water. Georgia’s 40-year-old oil and gas drilling law does not adequately protect residents from the risks associated with modern drilling techniques.
“I do not feel that my property, or our community’s water resources, are adequately protected by Georgia’s existing laws,” said Kiki Edmonds, Floyd County resident. “Many people in rural areas are not eligible for city water. Those families rely on well water for drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning, and crop irrigation. I believe the protection of groundwater is my biggest concern. I’m also worried about our rivers and streams, our landscape, damage to our already worn county roads, air pollution, and, of course, the threat of earthquakes like we’re seeing in Oklahoma.”
The remaining issues run the gamut, from chronic sewage overflows that threaten the health of DeKalb County residents to a proposed rocket launching facility in Camden County that could harm tourism on the coast’s famed Cumberland Island. From government’s failure to enforce stream protections to legislative deception that takes money from important clean community programs, the issues outlined in this report represent an opportunity for Georgia’s 10 million residents and its leaders to take action to ensure the state’s future generations have enough clean water to grow and prosper.
Coalition members encourage Georgians to speak out on these issues by sharing the report on social media, signing petitions and sending emails. Concerned residents can visit www.protectgeorgia.org to learn more and take action.
“Our families’ and communities’ futures are at risk,” said Jennette Gayer, director of Environment Georgia. “We can be part of the solution by speaking out and asking our officials to protect our water.”
The Coalition’s full report details the history of each site and provides solutions to correct these ongoing problems and eliminate the listed threats. The full report—including updates from previous Dirty Dozen reports—is available online: https://gawater.press/2016-Dirty-Dozen
The problems highlighted in the report include:
- Georgia’s Well Water: Coal Ash Disposal at Landfill Threatens Well Water (JESUP)
- Coosa River: Outdated Regulations Allow Coal-fired Power Plant To Dump Toxins in River (ROME)
- Northwest Georgia’s Drinking Water: Fracking for Natural Gas Fraught With Dangers Under Georgia’s Outdated Regulations (ROME, CALHOUN, DALTON)
- Chattahoochee River: $99 Million Nuclear Power Plant Study Squeezes Ratepayers, Water, and Clean Energy (GEORGETOWN, COLUMBUS, BAINBRIDGE)
- Georgia’s Groundwater: While Toxins Seep Into Our Well Water, Protections Remain Lax (JULIETTE, MACON)
- Georgia’s Coast: Oil Exploration Threatens Coastal Tourism, Devastates Wildlife (SAVANNAH, BRUNSWICK)
- Lake Sinclair: Future of Coal Ash Ponds Looms Over Oconee River Lake (MILLEDGEVILLE)
- Chattahoochee, Flint, Withlacoochee Rivers and Floridan Aquifer: Gas pipeline company, federal agency run roughshod over state, local residents property rights (ALBANY)
- South River: Dekalb County’s Aging Sewers Pollute Urban River (ATLANTA)
- Cumberland Island National Seashore: Camden County Rocket Launching Project Threatens Coast, Historic Barrier Island (ST. MARY’S)
- Georgia’s Rivers, Stream and Lakes: Agency Charged With Protecting State’s Water Thwarts Legislators’ Efforts To Protect All Georgia Waterways with Natural Buffer (STATEWIDE)
- Georgia’s Public Health: Legislators Steal Funds Intended for Cleanup of Toxic Sites, Mosquito-breeding Tire Dumps (STATEWIDE)
For more information contact:
Joe Cook, 706-409-0128, jcook@coosa.org
Emily Markesteyn Kurilla, 866-942-6222×1, emily@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org
Jennette Gayer, 703-475-3228, jennette@environmentgeorgia.org
Individual contacts for each item listed in the Dirty Dozen report are available online: https://gawater.press/2016-Dirty-Dozen
