ATLANTA — To tube or not to tube, that’s the question Georgia lawmakers spent months studying in 2024.
Georgia’s waterways are complicated when it comes to who can swim, float, tube or fish on them. Currently, there is a split between public and private water in the state, and the tens of thousands of miles of water reeled in plenty of public comments as lawmakers got to work.
In December, the Georgia House of Representatives Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters released a report on the various legal issues and challenges of the public’s right to access state waterways.
The committee itself was formed in June 2024 as lawmakers worked to determine what the rights of Georgians were on the state’s rivers and creeks and property rights.
After a series of public meetings, with testimony from residents, businesses, landowners and state agencies, the committee found that Georgia’s more than 70,000 miles of rivers and streams were in need of clearer legal codes when it comes to who can access the water, and where.
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At the center of it all was navigability, particularly when it came to the rights of landowners where rivers and streams run through their property.
“Navigability is a key factor when determining the public’s right to access particular waters and the rights of adjoining landowners,” the committee’s report said, citing Georgia law from all the way back to 1863. “To determine navigability, and thus the public’s right to access particular streams, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has relied on a variety of sources and factors: state and federal law; court cases; Georgia Attorney General opinions; research and historical documents on traditional use; presence of state-owned boat ramps,” and multiple other factors.
One issue lawmakers examined was the ability for Georgia fishermen and trappers to use public was ters. Current law prevents trappers from working on public waters, which the committee found “inhibit[ed] their ability to manage key wildlife species along those waterways.”
For state needs, the report said it has an impact on both the economy and the state’s environmental sustainability.
“Failing to manage nuisance wildlife could present risks to the livelihoods of trappers and risks to communities in the form of ecological damage,” the report said.
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However, the property rights of private citizens are also deeply protected in the State of Georgia, which the committee noted was “enshrined in the Georgia Constitution.”
In some cases, Georgia law allows landowners to completely bar access to the area, should they so choose, while in other cases, they may not. Part of it comes down to how long the rights have been traced back via landowner titles. State law defaults to landowner’s choice, when the navigable stream and submerged land is bordered on both sides by owned land.
If a river or stream has only one side of the banks, or stream beds, Georgia law stipulates that the state owns the part underwater and therefore access to the water itself would be public.
For areas with titles traceable to 1863 or earlier, though, if the owner can prove titling that far back, they own the land even if it would otherwise be a state-owned area.
In terms of use, the landowners have exclusive fishing rights to any non-navigable streams, according to the committee report.
While this is normally settled, a lack of clarity on water rights can lead to confrontations, lawmakers wrote. Sometimes, that can lead to risks and danger for civilians and rangers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Lawmakers said in the report that there are challenges when ti comes to crossing waterways, especially when certain parts of a river or s stream are public, and other parts pass through private property deemed non-navigable.
While some landowners are amenable to letting people through, state law does not have a specific statute for floating across. Instead, only one case really dove into the topic at length, Young v. Harrison in 1849.
Due to the age, the study committee also swam through the next century’s legal precedent with the Givens v. Ichuaway, Inc case of 1997, when advocates tried to differentiate between navigable streams and passable streams, relating the public access rights to an easement, similar to what’s used for roadways and private property for vehicle travel on land.
So, can you tube?
Short answer? It’s complicated and it depends on how far you’re going with the flow.
If the currents carry you onto private property, it can get fishy as to what happens next.
The committee of lawmakers made a series of recommendations about how to proceed, but did not say they wanted to make a legislative solution.
Here are their recommendations:
- Maintain the definition of navigability set forth in O.C.G.A. §44-8-5(a) and the right of passage for navigable streams as found in O.C.G.A. §52-1-31
- Refrain from a statutory delineation of navigable and non-navigable streams
- Incentivize and strengthen tools to foster collaboration and partnerships between landowners, nonprofits, and local/state government that increase opportunities for public access and conservation of Georgia’s waterways
- Preserve the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program
- Urge the Department of Natural Resources to further publicize and fund new technologies that assist in tracking and resolving disputes on waterways
- Protect Georgia’s fishing, hunting, trapping, and outdoor recreation traditions, as well as those reliant on waterways such as logging and farming, by carefully analyzing the impact of any potential legislation on these sectors.
The main takeaway? Lawmakers said there need to be more resources to let Georgians settle it amongst themselves, rather than wade into new legislation to make new rules for it.
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