Without laws and polices to guide water management, the state of Alabama faces a water crisis.

Surrounding states like Georgia, Florida and Mississippi already have water management plans in place to regulate water policy.  But the state of Alabama does not.

Now lawmakers are taking steps to ensure Alabama has a voice protecting and regulating the water that flows through the state.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley wants the state to have a water management plan in place by December 2013.

Local leaders in St. Clair County from both the public and private sector met for a second time Tuesday morning to discuss actions they can take to ensure Central Alabama has a voice in creating new legislation.

“More than 10 percent of fresh water in this country flows through Alabama,” Charles Alexander said.  “Alabama has more navigable streams than any other state in the union.  The question is: who gets it?”

Alexander said industrial, recreational, agricultural, transportation, irrigation and other entities are all competing for water from the same sources.

“This is our first blush at this, so we need to determine what the goal is,” LMLPA President Mike Riley said.

Leaders talked about drafting a letter to send to Gov. Bentley expressing their concerns and interest in developing a successful water management plan.  

The group addressed numerous water issues from both economic and environmental standpoints.  Primary concerns included in-stream flows, inter-basin transfer of water and the relationship between surface and underground water.

County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon suggested the group be flexible in their purpose.

“There are so many competing interests in what we are being asked to accomplish, it is going to be hard to marry all of them together,” Batemon said.  “We need to end up with a policy with the definitions fleshed out so there are no questions.”

With the presence of Logan Martin Lake in St. Clair County, water impacts the region economically.

“What happens on the lake affects the whole area,” Riley said.

“St. Clair is a more viable economic engine.  We are one of the fastest growing regions in the state,” Batemon said.  “That needs to be emphasized.”

The group agreed they wanted to make it clear they were equally concerned about both quantity and quality of the water.

In the letter the group will send to Gov. Bentley they intend to state they support the development of water management plan, they intend to adopt instream flows as a required component of any water allocation process and intend to support policy regarding inter-basin transfers based on watershed dynamics and demands including downstream needs.

Leaders will meet again on Oct. 30 at Lincoln City Hall to finalize and sign the letter.