(WSB Radio/AP) -- Florida lawmakers on Thursday accused Georgia officials of negligence in managing water consumption, urging the federal government to prevent further damage downstream in Florida's Apalachicola Bay.

At a meeting on Capitol Hill, the lawmakers said a recently unveiled federal plan governing the region's river basin gives Georgia a free pass for its conservation failures. They called on the Army Corps of Engineers to rescind the plan and said because Georgia's water consumption affects other states, the federal government should force Georgia to better plan for growth.

``Atlanta is issuing development permits without regard to where they're going to get the water,'' said Rep. Allen Boyd, a Democrat who represents the Apalachicola Bay area in the Florida panhandle. ``This water is a regional issue, and what we're saying is by golly if the states can't get it right, the federal government should step in.''

A spokesman for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Corps Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel, who has played a lead role in the most recent tri-state water wars among Florida, Georgia and Alabama, said the agency does not have authority over state water planning.

He acknowledged that water planning in the South ``is all over the map,'' but he would not characterize one state as better than another. He said there simply is not enough water to meet competing demands during drought.

Schroedel said he is pushing governors from across the South to form a regional commission to negotiate water issues and develop priorities that merit federal attention.

Florida, Georgia and Alabama have been in a legal and political battle over water rights since the early 1990s, but the fight has intensified in the past year as drought has gripped the southeast.

With prodding from President Bush, the governors of the three states began fresh negotiations last year to work out a settlement. But the talks ultimately failed, and the states have grown increasingly critical of one another.

In April, the corps, which manages federal reservoirs, announced an interim operating plan that would hold more water back in Georgia lakes and reduce flows into Florida and Alabama.

Florida officials have said the plan could irreversibly damage the seafood industry in the Apalachicola Bay and wreck the region's economy.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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