The Macon County commission recently denied Jones' request that someone from her organization be included in the Macon County Watershed Council. Furthermore, at Monday's board meeting they voted unanimously to oppose the designation of Cullasaja River as a state natural and scenic river, a designation Jones worked to get. She remains undaunted by the opposition of local politicians. Our elected officials shouldn't want our water supply to go shooting off 1,500 miles downstream because once it's out of here, it's gone. She would even like to see every house collect it's own rainwater, which would be released gradually back into the ground.
Macon County sits at river basin headwaters just west of the Eastern Continental Divide.
Runoff ends up 1,500 miles and 10 states away in the Gulf of Mexico. Wright agrees that the runoff is occurring faster than can be replenished by nature. Common sense would tell you that paving and development have caused the situation, but we need to confirm that. Well driller Dennis Holland doesn't need a scientific report to tell him that the water table is dropping in Macon County. Holland, who's been drilling wells here since 1969, knows he has to go down deeper to hit water than when he first started.