Water rights in the South are relatively new to the discussion, but we have been using water from the Floridan aquifer since Savannah was founded in 1887. The use of the Floridan aquifer increased, with regulations being enacted in the 1990s. The industrial development of the South is bringing these water rights back into current conversations, the Floridan aquifer has been providing for the community for over 100 years, and with easily accessible water the community can use it for day-to-day use and agricultural practices.
Even with access to water from these sources to use for meaningful practice, depending on the source that access changes. This accessibility is regulated by the state government, with some saying that surface water is able to be gathered and used, but ground water regulation is different.
Ground water regulations vary from state to state with some states applying the “rule of capture”, which allows the landowner to utilize that source as much as they’d like. This poses a huge threat to smaller communities, if a large business or warehouse is built and has unregulated access to groundwater, that business or warehouse can abuse the water source that the entire community needs.
Presently, the largest threat to water access is industrial development in the South. This includes warehouses, AI data centers, businesses, and homes. The strain that rapid warehouse development is placing on the water supply, particularly in Bryan, Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty counties, is directly impacting local communities. Areas for concern, as seen on the Georgia Water Planning website, include the Upper Floridan aquifer in those same areas.
With the rise of AI, there have been data centers across the southern states, both big and small, that need enormous quantities of water to operate them, and many more are in the process of being built. In an article from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Jon Gorey back in Oct. 2025 wrote, “…larger ones require up to 5 million gallons of water…” With this factor alone, there has been major pushback against it from agriculture communities and even government officials with possible solutions to this issue.
This is just one of many problems with water rights here in the South that have been problematic recently that need to be fixed soon, or our water supplies may become non-existent in the near future.
The biggest factor that could help resolve this issue is redefining water rights entirely. If local and state governments began to clarify some of these issues, and assist local communities in fairly allocating water supply, this would no longer pose such a threat to Georgia. The continued allowance for loopholes in the system to make it easier for business does nothing but hurt local communities and prevents the public from seeing sustainable water supply in the future.
One solution being proposed by the Georgia Senate right now is a special senate committee on the Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands. This industrial development is not just impacting water rights, but also Georgia’s agricultural production, and Representative Billy Hickman is doing something about it. The purpose of this committee is “to make more information available and get us thinking about things.” The committee’s first meeting is July 30th at Georgia Southern University’s Continuing Education Campus in Statesboro, beginning at 10am.