Florida v. Georgia

In Florida v. Georgia, the State of Florida sued Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court, invoking the Court's original jurisdiction. Florida alleged that Georgia's increasing consumption of water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin caused severe ecological and economic damage, notably the collapse of its Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery. Florida sought an equitable apportionment decree to cap Georgia's water use. A Special Master recommended dismissal, concluding Florida failed to prove that a consumption cap would provide redress. On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, disagreed with the strict redressability standard applied, holding that Florida had shown sufficient harm and causation, and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Special Master’s report in a 5-4 ruling and remanded the case, directing the Special Master to apply a more lenient standard for proving redressability and to re-examine the evidence of harm caused by Georgia’s water consumption.

The central dispute focused on the standard of proof required for an interstate water equitable apportionment claim, specifically whether Florida had to prove with certainty that capping Georgia's upstream water use would remedy the downstream environmental harms.

The 2018 decision was a significant development in interstate water disputes, reaffirming the Court's willingness to intervene in water allocation conflicts. It temporarily emboldened downstream states facing upstream water consumption and highlighted the vulnerability of vital ecosystems to regional water management policies, though the case was ultimately dismissed in 2021 on the merits.