The following appeared in The Northeast Georgian September 5, 2003.  Reprinted with permission by The Northeast Georgian. 

Rivers and streams have often been compared to a human’s circulatory system. Just as our bodies need oxygen enriched blood circulating to each of our organs for us to survive, the Habersham County community needs clean, plentiful waters for business, industry, drinking water and recreation across the county to flourish.

So why is the Soque River Watershed so unique? Because the Soque River is the only river of its size in the state of Georgia that rests entirely within one county. The Soque River begins and ends in Habersham County affording us the good fortune of possessing the Soque River in its entirety. The Soque is no ordinary river because it is ours and ours alone.

The Soque River Watershed could be considered the “Heart of Habersham County.” Every drop of drinking water for the cities of Clarkesville and Cornelia comes out of the Soque Basin. The majority of Mount Airy’s wells withdraw water from aquifers draining to the Soque Basin. A large portion of the Baldwin and Demorest water supply is Soque water. Fieldale, Ethicon and Scovill, three of the areas biggest industries, all depend upon water from the Soque River Basin. The majority of our agricultural products, primarily chickens and cows, drink water from the Soque Basin. And even if you drink well water, there is a good chance that this water is within the Soque Basin.

Without the waters of the Soque Basin, our cities, our businesses and our quality of life would be like organs without a steady supply of blood to keep them alive. Habersham County is particularly blessed that the control and protection of these water resources is completely up to us. Many other regions are not so fortunate. Imagine if the city of Atlanta lay in the headwaters of the Soque River rather than many miles below us. Our waters would be much less clean and much less plentiful. The fact that our water resources are completely under our control is both a blessing and a tremendous responsibility.

The guardianship of our water resources may become more and more challenging in the years ahead. This past year the Georgia Legislature considered legislation that would allow water resources to be bought and sold as a commodity on the open market. To understand how this legislation would affect Habersham County and the Soque Basin consider this example.

A few years ago the county unfortunately witnessed the closing of Habersham Mills. Before the closing, Habersham Mills had a permit to withdraw several hundred thousand gallons of water a day from the Soque River for use in their plant. When the factory closed, their permit to withdraw this water simply disappeared, allowing for the state to reapportion this water for other uses provided it was in the best interests of Georgia’s citizen’s and the environment. Now consider if water were treated as a commodity and not as a public resource. When Habersham Mills closed, among their assets they would have possessed a water permit good for the allocation of several hundred thousand gallons of water a day. This water permit could then be sold for a profit to the highest bidder. In order for the people of Habersham County to determine how this water might be used, we would have to purchase it, while also out competing all other bidders.

As the value and the demand for clean water climbs it is concerning that our citizens might one day have to chock up the money to purchase water permits to retain control of the waters that flow within our own boundaries. Currently we are able to withdraw this water for free because it is treated as a public resource. Under a commodity system we might one day be faced with the difficult task of competing with large multi-national conglomerates who want this water for their own purposes.

To treat the Soque River as a commodity would be like allowing someone else to remove and sell your blood without permission. To our great fortune our local legislators have worked to protect Habersham County from this mistake and they deserve our thanks. Representative Ben Bridges and Senator Carol Jackson took leadership to preserve our waters as a public resource, taking a stand to keep the Soque ours, and ours alone.

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Justin Ellis was the Executive Director of the SRWA from 2002-2004.  As of 2009, he was enrolled in a PhD program in Ecology at the University of Georgia.