WASHINGTON – Georgia’s congressional delegation proposed legislation Tuesday aimed at replenishing the state’s shrinking water supply by suspending Endangered Species Act regulations during periods of extreme drought.

The bill would apply nationally, but Georgia lawmakers particularly hoped to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ practice of releasing water from Georgia lakes to protect threatened mussels and sturgeon downstream in Florida.

The bill will probably face strong resistance if it advances. But in a rare show of bipartisan unity, Georgia’s lawmakers rallied around it as a “common sense” solution to the state’s persistent drought.

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Moultrie said Georgia’s water is being restricted to “protect a handful of mussels and sturgeon,” leading people to wonder whether Congress cares more about animals than human beings.

“This is a crisis,” added Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat.

Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been fighting for nearly two decades over water rights from two river basins in the region.

A key point in the dispute is how much water the Corps releases from reservoirs such as Lake Lanier outside Atlanta to ensure downstream habitats for rare species of freshwater mussels and Gulf sturgeon, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

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