Tennessee–Georgia water dispute

The river in Tennessee reaches as close as 200 feet (61 m) from the Georgia state line in Marion County.

Georgia, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, had become a state on January 2, 1788, but did not sell its western territory to the Federal government until 1802, when the selling agreement declared Georgia's western border to be "a line from the great bend of the Chattahoochee River and thence in a direct line [north] to Nickajack [a Cherokee Indian settlement] on the Tennessee River... running up the said Tennessee River and along the Western Bank thereof to the Southern Boundary line of the State of Tennessee.

The survey took place in 1818, and both teams incorrectly determined the 35th parallel north to be 1 mile (1.6 km) south of its actual location.

The teams met at Ellicott's Rock, located along the Chattooga River, which was constructed by astronomer and surveyor Andrew Ellicott in 1811, marking what he determined to be the tripoint of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and continued westward until they reached the location where the Georgia and Tennessee teams had stopped surveying the boundary the year before.

Camak again expressed a suspicion that his instruments were outdated and inaccurate, but endorsed the results of the survey, believing them to be accurate.

[2] Georgia has attempted to correct what they have believed to be an error on multiple occasions, reportedly since the early 19th century.

[8] The issue of water access became a much larger problem in the later 20th century, when the Atlanta metropolitan area began to grow rapidly, which continues in the present.

[12] In 2019, the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution creating a committee to negotiate with elected officials in Tennessee and North Carolina about changing the border.

The resolution also authorizes other actions, such as an effort to gain access to Tennessee River water without changing the border.

"[15] In 2013, when the dispute was renewed, then-governor Bill Haslam reported through a spokesman that he was opposed to any efforts by Georgia to change the border.

In 2008, Littlefield sent a truckload of bottled water and a coonskin cap to the Georgia General Assembly, saying it was "better to offer a cool, wet kiss of friendship rather than face a hot, angry legislator gone mad with thirst."