Last week, water began flowing in North Baldwin County, as a project a decade in the making came to fruition with the new Sinclair Water Authority water treatment facility’s lines were opened.

As state leaders of Georgia, Alabama and Florida haggle over water use and control for other regions of the state, the efforts of those locally who have worked to put the Sinclair Water Authority project in motion demonstrate a tremendous level of foresight, helping to curb any potential water shortage issues in our future.

Baldwin and Putnam county leaders saw a need to address our area’s future water issues back in 2000, so they, along with our state leaders in Atlanta, pushed to create the Sinclair Water Authority. Those efforts, and a vision that actually dates back to the 1990s, have helped to ensure our area’s water quality and availability for the foreseeable future and beyond.

For many years, our state has been blessed with an abundant water supply, but the onslaught of drought conditions and growing populations have resulted in increased water consumption. Public water systems such as the newly created one established by the Sinclair Water Authority provide drinking water to approximately 85 percent of Georgia's population, while the remaining 15 percent of residents get their drinking water from private wells, according to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, making the need to create new reservoirs and suppliers a necessity for our state.

As our state’s population continues to grow, especially in the Atlanta area, we must all do our part to make water conservation a priority. Our local leaders’ willingness to cooperate on our water issues should serve as an example to those in Atlanta. Ongoing conflicts over water issues by leaders in our state, along with Alabama and Florida leaders over river use and management must be resolved — before the next drought hits us.

Our state’s water supply issues will never be resolved without a spirit of cooperation among state leaders. We must take serious steps to watch and manage population growth and water conservation — and we can’t depend entirely on other states to bail us out in times of drought. We must have the type of vision demonstrated by those involved in the Sinclair Water project.

We must also remember that our water issues and our failure to resolve them affect our environment as well — in the form of erosion and the disruption of plant and wildlife life near our natural resources. Our lakes and rivers are such a vital part of our way of life here in the Middle Georgia area, perhaps we sure look in the future at developing our own regional water plan in an effort to preserve and maintain what is dear to us. Utilizing a multi-county, regional approach could help to further what has already begun through the Sinclair Water Authority and also promote water issues and conservation region-wide, demonstrating to the rest of the state that we are good stewards of this vital natural resource. A regional plan could even garner the attention of the industrial sector and help to not only further business development but also set an example for existing industries regarding the importance of water conservation. A regional plan could be significant in laying the groundwork for the type of culture of conservation we need to sustain our natural resources for years to come.

Yes, we can all do our part — take shorter showers and water the lawn a little less often particularly in times of drought, but what our state really needs is a concrete and stringent water policy with teeth to avoid water conflicts in the future like those we’ve already seen play out between our state and our neighbors, and we must work with leaders of other states to find viable and sustainable solutions for sharing river basins. The only way to develop such a comprehensive plan will be through a cooperative effort. Sure, the drought portions of our state have seen in recent years have gotten better, and eventually it will all subside at some point, but what will we do during next drought? Local leaders should be commended for tackling our water issues head-on through the creation of the Sinclair Water Authority. Now, residents in North Baldwin County have the benefit of drinking some of the cleanest, high-quality water available. Our local leaders worked together to help ensure our future water supply, now our leaders in Atlanta should take note and do the same for our state as a whole.