Water has been one of Habersham County’s most important long-term issues for decades.

I have had the opportunity to look at that issue from several different perspectives over the years — as a Habersham County Commissioner, as a State Senator representing the 50th Senate District, through economic development leadership, and later in state government dealing with emergency management, homeland security and the protection of critical infrastructure.

Those experiences have taught me that when dealing with something as important as water, the first question should not simply be, “What can we build next?” The better questions are: What do we already have? What capacity exists within it? What partnerships can be strengthened? And how do we build a system that will serve this region not just for the next few years, but for the next several generations?

That is why I have concerns about the City of Demorest’s current proposal to use eminent domain to acquire property on Tallulah Falls Lake and construct a new water treatment facility there.

Let me say clearly that I agree with Demorest about the underlying problem. Habersham County needs a dependable and expandable supply of water. Water availability affects residential growth, economic development, public safety, hospitals, schools and our ability to recruit and retain employers.

Demorest, and Habersham County, also deserves considerable credit for what it has built. Today the Demorest water system serves more than 70 percent of the residents of Habersham County, including customers far beyond the city limits. That is a significant responsibility, and I do not minimize it.

My concern is with what comes next.

When I served on the Habersham County Commission from 2004 through 2008, we were dealing with essentially the same long-term question. Our goal was not to compete with Demorest. It was to secure additional water for Habersham County and create another source of supply.

That effort led to an agreement with the City of Toccoa and a substantial investment in the infrastructure necessary to bring treated water into Habersham County. A five-mile, 16-inch transmission line and associated pumping infrastructure were constructed at a cost of several million dollars. The county initially had access to one million gallons per day from Toccoa.

The larger vision, however, was always about more than one million gallons per day. The system was built with growth in mind, and a few years later Demorest itself sought to increase its Toccoa supply to three million gallons per day. As reported recently by The Northeast Georgian, Toccoa declined that request for multiple reasons.

That history should not end the discussion. It should tell us where to begin the next one.

Water permits, infrastructure, demand and regional needs change over time. Before we take private property through eminent domain, before we commit ratepayers to a new treatment plant, and before we begin building an entirely new water-supply system around Tallulah Lake, I believe we should make every reasonable effort to determine what it would take today to fully develop the Toccoa relationship.

If I were directly involved, my first objective would be to determine whether we can reach the full three million gallons per day that has been discussed before. If the answer requires additional state authorization or investment in Toccoa’s source, treatment or transmission capacity, then we should find out what that requires and what it costs. And we should not arbitrarily stop the analysis at three million gallons. We should determine how much dependable long-term capacity that regional partnership could ultimately provide.

That seems to me to be the logical first move because the physical connection already exists. Habersham taxpayers have already invested millions of dollars in that infrastructure.

In 2013, when the county transferred its water system to Demorest, the city received an approximately $8.4 million system at no cost, including pump stations, tanks, water lines, meters and customers.

Demorest therefore inherited more than a collection of pipes and customers. It inherited an important piece of a regional water strategy that had already been built and paid for.

The current usage numbers make the question even more relevant. In April, May and June, Demorest purchased roughly 43 to 45 million gallons of water each month from Baldwin. During those same months, it purchased approximately 5.7 to 8 million gallons per month from Toccoa.

Those numbers convince me that we need to know much more about the potential of the Toccoa connection before we conclude that our existing alternatives have been exhausted.

I understand Demorest’s concern that it cannot build its future around the assumption that neighboring systems will always have excess water available for purchase. That is a legitimate concern. Long-term water planning requires more than simply hoping another provider will always have enough capacity.

But building a new plant on Tallulah Lake does not eliminate uncertainty. Demorest’s proposal ultimately envisions drawing as much as five million gallons per day from the lake, beginning with approximately 1.5 million gallons per day. Such a project will require far more than acquiring a piece of property. It raises questions involving permitting, treatment and transmission infrastructure, drought planning, environmental impacts and the movement of water between river basins.

And it has already created significant opposition outside Habersham County. Property owners have objected. Tallulah Falls has concerns. Rabun County commissioners have voted to “exhaust all avenues to protect Rabun County resources.”

That does not automatically mean Demorest is wrong.

But it does mean the burden should be high before eminent domain is used.

Eminent domain is one of the most extraordinary powers government possesses. There are circumstances when it is necessary. Roads, utilities and other essential public infrastructure sometimes cannot be built without it.

But when government tells a private citizen that his or her property must be taken for a public purpose, government should be able to say with confidence that the need is compelling and that reasonable alternatives have been fully explored.

I am not convinced we are there yet.

Cornelia’s own long-term discussions involving Tallulah Lake are also worth noting, if only because they remind us that Demorest is not the only community thinking about future water supply. But that particular proposal is less important to me than the larger lesson: the water decisions we make today cannot continue to be made one city at a time.

This is where I think the conversation needs to change.

Across this relatively compact part of Northeast Georgia, communities including Demorest, Baldwin, Cornelia, Clarkesville, Toccoa and Tallulah Falls share far more than proximity. Habersham, Stephens and Rabun counties are connected by river basins, water systems, economic development, growth patterns and, ultimately, a common future.

What happens within this relatively small corner of Northeast Georgia over the next several years may determine our water security for the next 50 years.

That is too important to leave to any single municipality.

Demorest operates the largest water system in Habersham County, and because of that it absolutely should have a leading role in the conversation. But serving most of Habersham County also means its decisions have consequences well beyond the city limits of Demorest.

Our water future is a regional responsibility.

We need Toccoa and Stephens County at the table. We need Habersham County at the table. We need Baldwin, Cornelia and Clarkesville at the table. Where Tallulah Lake is involved, Tallulah Falls and Rabun County should be part of the discussion as well. And when state withdrawal permits or river-basin issues are involved, the appropriate state agencies must be engaged early rather than after decisions have essentially been made.

There should be some very direct questions on that table.

How much additional water can Toccoa realistically provide? What would be required to reach three million gallons per day? Could investments in source or treatment capacity push that number higher? What additional interconnections should be built among existing systems? Where can redundancy be added so that the failure or shortage of one source does not threaten tens of thousands of customers? What are the projected water needs of this region 20, 30 and 50 years from now? What solution gives us the greatest dependable capacity for the public dollars invested?

And then we should ask where Tallulah Lake fits into that plan.

Perhaps it does.

I am not suggesting that Tallulah Lake should be removed from consideration. If a credible engineering, environmental and financial analysis demonstrates that a Tallulah source is necessary to secure Habersham County’s long-term water future, then we should have that discussion based on the facts.

But we should not begin with condemnation and work backward toward regional planning.

We should begin with regional planning.

Nearly twenty years ago, we built the Toccoa connection because we believed cooperation across jurisdictional lines offered Habersham County a stronger and more secure water future. I still believe that.

In fact, I believe that principle is more important today than it was then.

The decisions ahead are not simply about where Demorest gets its next million gallons of water. They are about where Northeast Georgia gets its water for the next generation. They will influence where homes are built, where industry locates, which communities can grow and how well we withstand the next serious drought.

Those decisions will outlive every elected official currently holding office.

That is why the most constructive path forward is not a fight between Demorest and Rabun County, or between a city and a property owner. It is for Demorest and its regional partners to sit down together, put every reasonable option on the table, fully examine the capacity we already have and develop a strategy worthy of the next 50 years.

Demorest should be an important leader in that effort.

But no single city should carry — or control — a responsibility this consequential by itself.

Water is too important. The investments are too large. The consequences last too long.

Before we condemn property and commit ourselves to a new path, let’s make certain we have fully explored the one we have already spent millions of dollars building.

And, more importantly, let’s make the next decision together.