The three states have battled in federal court since 1990 over water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system.

Amid drought across the Southeast, federal officials in June agreed to allow reduced flow in the Apalachicola River below the historic minimum if the drought continues. Local elected officials and seafood industry representatives said low flows cause the loss of oysters from high salinity and reduced recreational boating in the river.

An emotional Franklin County Commissioner Joseph "Smokey" Parrish said, "We have never seen it like this before. You don't have to be a scientist to see and understand this."

Congressman Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, hosted the forum at the Army Corps of Engineers offices overlooking Lake Seminole, where the Apalachicola River begins at Jim Woodruff Dam on the Georgia state line. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C. and chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship, joined Boyd.

The Corps has begun the yearslong process of updating its water control manual for the river, said Brigadier Gen. Joseph Schroedel, the Corps' South Atlantic Division commander.

The Corps will launch an "aggressive" outreach campaign to encourage public involvement, Schroedel said. But he also said his agency doesn't have the power to consider individual issues involving the river system, such as the health of Apalachicola Bay, without specific authority from Congress.

He said the Corps is preparing to ask Congress for authority to consider other issues once it hears from the public.

"I want to make sure all of the issues are on the table," Schroedel said.

Boyd said cooperation among the states is needed to reach a solution.

"I have to tell you, I think this will be an uphill battle," Boyd said. "There have been years of mistrust built up among the three states on this issue. We have to work together to tear down that wall of mistrust that the states have between themselves."

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Some counties along the Apalachicola River are asking Gov. Charlie Crist to take legal action to block a reduction in water flow from Georgia and Alabama.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week approved a 10-percent reduction in the historic minimum low flow into the river, which supports rare fish and wildlife and the seafood industry in Apalachicola Bay.

Gulf County this week was preparing to ask Crist to petition the federal courts to block the request, County Attorney Tim McFarland said. Franklin County made a similar request to Crist on June 6, saying the local seafood industry would be devastated by a lack of fresh water.

"He (Crist) has stood true as far as not selling us down the creek," Franklin County Commissioner Joseph "Smokey" Parrish said. "We got to move forward for what's good for the entire state of Florida."

The governor is aware of Franklin County's concerns and will consult with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on possible legal action in response to both requests, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the governor.

Crist last week said the federal decision was "disappointing" and "places the economic and environmental future of an entire region at risk."

The Fish and Wildlife Service approved a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers request to keep more water in the Lake Lanier federal reservoir north of Atlanta if the drought continues. The service said the reduction would not threaten the survival of threatened and endangered mussels and sturgeon in the Apalachicola River.

Atlanta area officials also are unhappy. But they say the Corps' plan does little to prevent Lake Lanier, a water supply for 3.5 million people, from draining further. The lake is nearly 10 feet lower than it was a year ago, before Georgia officials began warning that they were running out of water.

Nelson traveled 25 miles of the river, which provides spawning areas for protected sturgeon and the freshwater needed to help oysters survive in Apalachicola Bay, seeing how the decision to hold more water in Georgia is hurting life downstream in Florida.

He said he will push for a National Academy of Sciences study of the river to show how lower water flow affects it, and perhaps that will bring more attention to Florida's concerns.

But Nelson also cautioned officials from the six Florida counties along the river that he didn't have a magic wand to wave when he gets back to Washington to make sure the state's interests are a priority in the water war with Georgia.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has allowed Georgia to keep more water upstream in Lake Lanier under an emergency plan put in place because of a drought. The plan will expire this week, but the corps has another management plan set to begin June 1 that would let Georgia keep more water in the federal reservoir and allow even less to flow downstream.

A court ruled this month that the federal reservoir's primary purposes are for navigation and to provide hydropower. The lake also provides water for the Atlanta area, and Georgia officials want to tap more water from the reservoir. Nelson promised to fight any efforts in Congress that would allow the reservoir to primarily be used for municipal purposes.

At several stops along the three-hour tour, environmental officials and researchers told Nelson the river is being damaged. The fact that that mussel populations are diminishing is the sign of larger problems with the river's health, including declining fish populations.

"They're like the canary in the coal mine," said Steve Herrington, an ecologist with The Nature Conservancy. "Loss of these mussels are a symptom of something going wrong with the river. We can do something, but we have to do something soon."

The river is six feet below what it would normally be during a dry season, Nelson was told. Some areas where fish spawn are being exposed for the first time. And the lack of fresh water flowing into the Apalachicola Bay is hurting shrimp and oyster populations. Species that normally remain in the Gulf of Mexico are being found in the bay and upriver as salinity levels rise.

The nutrients that get washed into the river during its flood stages helps aquatic life all the way into the gulf, experts told Nelson.

"We're not just looking at a river in Florida, we're looking at the effects way on down into the Gulf of Mexico on the marine population. So I'm going to get to work on this and y'all keep the messages coming," Nelson said.

The state is suing to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from allowing the lower flows, citing environmental and economic concerns. State Environmental Secretary Mike Sole also joined Nelson on the tour.

Officials are concerned a low-level flow for an extended period will cause irreversible damage.

"It's a lot cheaper to save what we have than to try to repair it, like the Everglades," said Lee Edmiston, a research coordinator with the Department of Environmental Protection.