Georgia's Water Future in Focus: Highlights of Regional Water Planning 2009-2011
Historical report. This independent guide describes the December 2011 publication compiled by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. It is not an official state publication or a current assessment of Georgia's water resources.
This is a useful starting point for readers who need to understand how the first statewide regional planning cycle fitted together. Individual regional plans contain the local detail; the highlights report connects their forecasts, resource assessments and management responses in one statewide account. Its coverage includes the ten new regional councils and the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District.
Document at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication date | December 2011 |
| Compiling agency | Georgia Environmental Protection Division |
| Length | 52 PDF pages, including front matter |
| Period described | Regional planning conducted during 2009-2011 |
| Forecast context | Water needs and responses looking toward 2050 |
| Historical filename | Highlights_of_Regional_Water_Planning.pdf |
What the report explains
How statewide planning became regional work
The report places the regional exercise within the framework established by Georgia's 2008 State Water Plan. It explains the role of councils, technical assessments and public participation in developing a set of plans for different parts of the state. This makes it useful for locating a regional document within the wider planning process rather than reading its recommendations in isolation.
Future demand and wastewater generation
The forecasting overview covers municipal and industrial requirements, agriculture and thermoelectric power. It also considers wastewater and water returns. Those categories are important to understanding why a large withdrawal volume does not necessarily indicate an equally large consumptive use or an equivalent requirement for drinking-water treatment.
What the resource assessments measured
The resource discussion introduces groundwater availability, surface-water availability and water quality. It shows that planning involves more than comparing total supply with total demand. The location and timing of withdrawals, effects on streamflows and the condition of receiving waters can each affect the management response.
The range of possible management responses
The report groups actions around conservation, water supply, wastewater and water quality. It also presents regional perspectives, allowing readers to see how common planning tools were applied in different environmental and economic settings. Use those regional overviews to select a full plan for closer study; the highlights document does not replace its detailed assumptions or implementation material.
Participation and the next planning steps
The final part describes the statewide effort, the planning process, outreach and subsequent work. Council membership information is historical evidence of participation during that cycle, not a current directory of officials or contacts.
When this document is useful
- Beginning a research project: identify the major components of the original planning system before choosing a basin, region or user sector to investigate.
- Following an old citation: establish which publication an article meant when it linked to the former highlights PDF, then consult the archived source.
- Explaining the planning framework: distinguish demand forecasts, resource assessments and proposed management responses without assuming they are interchangeable.
- Comparing planning cycles: identify the topics and categories used in 2011 before examining a later plan. The existence of a recommendation in this report does not establish that it was implemented.
- Finding regional detail: use the regional overview to decide which original regional plan and supporting studies are relevant to a local question.
These uses are editorial suggestions. For numerical analysis, check the original figure, its units, baseline and scenario in the source document.
Where to start reading
The table below is a navigation aid using printed page labels from the report. The PDF includes five preceding pages, so printed page 1 is PDF page 6.
| Research question | Printed pages to begin with |
|---|---|
| What was the purpose of the planning cycle? | Executive overview, beginning at 1; introduction at 3 |
| How were future requirements organized? | Demand overview at 7; sector discussions beginning at 9, 11 and 13 |
| What did the resource assessments cover? | Resource overview at 15; groundwater at 17, surface water at 19 and quality at 21 |
| What types of action were considered? | Management overview at 23; conservation at 25, supply at 27 and wastewater/quality at 29 |
| Where are the regional summaries? | Regional comparisons beginning at 31 |
| How was the work organized? | Statewide process section at 39; participation and follow-up in the remaining pages |
For exact methodology, cost assumptions or a location-specific proposal, continue into the relevant regional plan and the technical documents it cites. The statewide report deliberately provides a broader level of explanation.
How to read it today
Read the report as a record of what the 2009-2011 planning process assessed and proposed. Its forecasts are historical scenarios, its descriptions of resource conditions use the evidence available at the time, and its contact and membership information may be outdated. It should not be used by itself to establish current permitting requirements, present water availability or completion of an infrastructure project.
The regional-plan collection described on this site covers the ten councils established through the statewide process. Metro Water District is also covered in the highlights report, but its full plan is not one of the ten archived regional PDFs in this collection.
Read or obtain the original
- Internet Archive: view the historical report.
- Internet Archive: open the archived PDF directly. The original was retrieved successfully on 31 October 2026.
- Georgia EPD: online introduction to the historical highlights report. This is an official explanatory access point; do not assume it reproduces every element of the PDF.
- Georgia EPD: official regional plan catalog. Use this route to find newer planning documents.
- If you need an agency-supplied historical copy, contact water.planning@dnr.ga.gov and give the complete title and December 2011 date.
The PDF links above lead to an external archive. This page provides an independent description and access information; it does not host the original publication.
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About this guide
This description was written independently from the report's factual subject matter and structure. It does not reproduce its narrative, tables, maps, photographs or page designs. Source titles and bibliographic details identify the publication being discussed. This website is independent of Georgia EPD and the regional planning councils.