Published: March 26, 2009 02:19 pm      

CRBI plans water issues town hall in Bartow County

Submitted by the Coosa River Basin Initiative

The Rome-based Riverkeeper organization Coosa River Basin Initiative will host a town hall meeting to discuss local and state water issues April 2 at the Bartow County Library, 429 Main St. in Cartersville.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and will include discussions of water conservation and state policy addressing the region’s water crisis, and stream health in the Etowah River and Lake Allatoona and the Etowah Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). Citizens will have the opportunity to ask questions of representatives from CRBI and the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology and make comments about their specific concerns for local waterways.

“This is an open discussion to educate local residents and engage them in protecting our drinking water sources,” said Joe Cook, CRBI executive director. “We want to hear what their concerns are. We want to know where they are seeing pollution problems in their neighborhoods and help them find ways to correct these problems.”

Cook will give an update of water-related legislation pending in the Georgia General Assembly, provide information about the recently updated Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District’s water management plan and discuss what it means for Bartow County’s rivers and streams.

Deborah Millsap, outreach coordinator with the Etowah HCP, will present information about the ongoing development of this plan to help protect federally endangered fish species found in the Etowah and its tributaries in Cherokee County. For more information about the Etowah HCP, visit www.etowahhcp.org.

For more information, visit the CRBI Web site at www.coosa.org.

CRBI is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance. Its mission is to inform and empower citizens so that they may become involved in the process of creating a cleaner, healthier, more economically viable Coosa River Basin.