As the three governors sit down to discuss the future water allocation of the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint rivers next Tuesday, take the talk of more dams on the Flint River off the negotiating table.

Proposals to build dams upstream on the Flint River have been dusted off, and metro-Atlanta water interests and several legislators want to help satisfy the thirst of metro-Atlanta by constructing more dams.

These proposals are more like money pits than logical answers to Metro-Atlanta’s water crisis.

American Rivers, an environmental group, said proposals to add dams to the Flint River is enough of a threat to land the Flint in the No. 2 spot in “America’s Most Endangered Rivers” for 2009.

The Flint is one of just a few rivers in the Southeast to still flow unimpeded for more than 200 miles, and of course it is used extensively by area residents for their recreation and tourism opportunities.

“Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to dam the Flint River simply doesn’t make sense when there are water efficiency options available that are far cheaper and would deliver faster results,” said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, in an earlier news release. “This dam building scheme is not the answer to modern Georgia’s water needs.”

We don’t think so either.

Metro-Atlanta could take several steps to more water efficiency and not keep siphoning off water in the most selfish, cheapest means for them—while spending millions of tax dollars looking for legal loopholes in court rulings and making downstream interest tote the load in sacrificing water allocations.

Building new dams is not the answer, so quit wasting time thinking of pouring money into a pit.