Editorials

The water war is heating up once again. And with November elections coming, no one is surprised that the issues involved are the meat on which politicians feed.

Down where Florida, Georgia and Alabama connect, Florida Rep. Allen Boyd hosted an open forum that allowed folks in the Apalachicola recreational and commercial fishing business to vent their frustrations with Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and the state he governs.

One Florida county commissioner got right to the point. "Georgia's governor is fond of saying that this is a people versus mussels issue," he observed. "The issue at hand is Atlanta's greed and gluttony versus Floridians' necessity and survival."

While it is debatable whether Atlanta alone is the problem, or whether Perdue is guilty of "trivializing" the situation, one cannot argue that the people down on the Apalachicola are hurting. Not only are the endangered mussels and protected sturgeon feeling the effect of less water, oyster beds are shrinking, shrimp are disappearing, and even honey production is falling because dry conditions hurt tupelo blooms. Livelihood is threatened.

Following the time-honored political tradition of putting off anything that can be put off, Boyd, along with Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez, are calling for a National Academy of Sciences study to assess the problem in hopes that it will give their state more ammunition in the water war.

Folks along the water are not impressed. "Anyone who has lived along the river or the bay, or made their living from them, knows something is happening," one of them told the forum. "You don't have to be a scientist to see and understand this."

Meanwhile, as talking and negotiations have continued, Hurricane Dolly came ashore this week in south Texas as a Category 2 storm. Winds around 100 mph and more than a foot of rain caused extensive damage over that part of Texas and its coastline. But before Dolly made landfall, weather experts called the hurricane a "rain event" that would dump up to 12 inches in some areas.

That is what's needed in the Deep South, a tropical storm or low-grade hurricane that will do little, if any, wind or surge damage but will carry sizeable amounts of rain to Birmingham, Atlanta and beyond. With the busiest part of the hurricane season just beginning, that just might happen. It would be good if it does.