Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Chapter 391-3 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Subject 391-3-28 - FLINT RIVER DROUGHT PROTECTION › Rule 391-3-28-.01 - Purpose

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27,
				2024
The purpose of this rule is to establish the procedures
				  required for the administration and implementation of the "Flint River Drought
				  Protection Act", O.C.G.A.
				  12-5-540
et seq.
The use of water resources of the state for agricultural purposes is of vital
				  importance to Georgia and southwest Georgia in particular; and the protection
				  of flows in the Flint River and its tributaries is necessary for a healthy
				  riverine ecosystem and a healthy population of aquatic life. The wise use of
				  water, protection of stream flow, and the overall economic well being of the
				  state will be furthered by proper water management in periods of severe
				  drought. Programs to augment stream flows or provide incentives to ensure that
				  certain irrigated agricultural lands are temporarily not irrigated during times
				  of declared severe drought will promote this wise use of water resources, the
				  associated protection of stream flows for habitat critical for aquatic life,
				  and the economic well being of the state.
This rule establishes the basis for a drought protection
				  program for the Flint River basin and the coordination which will occur with
				  the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority to handle those funds. It states
				  how the Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of
				  Natural Resources may each year predict or declare whether severe drought
				  conditions are considered likely in the Flint River basin. It establishes the
				  procedures for holding an irrigation reduction auction to decrease irrigation
				  acreage in any declared severe drought year and how the auction may be
				  operated. It delineates the process by which certain persons holding
				  agricultural water withdrawal permits may offer to cease irrigating a number of
				  acres in exchange for a certain sum of money and defines how such offers to
				  sell are accepted. If a sufficient amount of acreage reduction is not acquired
				  during the auction, it defines when and how an order may be issued requiring
				  certain permit holders to cease or reduce irrigation and provides for their
				  compensation to stop irrigating. It establishes the irrigation efficiency
				  thresholds for all irrigation systems in the affected areas of the Flint River
				  Basin operating or existing under the Division's water withdrawal permitting
				  requirement, identifies requirements pertaining to the methods an applicant or
				  permittee shall utilize to demonstrate the achievement of the irrigation
				  efficiency thresholds, and establishes the schedule in which all permittees
				  will achieve irrigation efficiency thresholds. It provides for a process in
				  which the director will notify specified permittees downstream of any state
				  funded augmentation project that during specified periods of the project's
				  operation for specified purposes within the affected areas, the permittee shall
				  let the flow provided by the augmentation project pass his or her point of
				  withdrawal. It outlines the procedures for any investigations and enforcement
				  of these rules.
O.C.G.A. §
										12-5-540
et
				  seq.