Shoreline of Apalachicola Bay. Photo: John Wijsman/Shutterstock.com Shoreline of Apalachicola Bay. Photo: John Wijsman/Shutterstock.com

Arguing that a ruling for Georgia would "spell doom," Florida lawyers are trying again to sway the U.S. Supreme Court in a long-running water battle between the two states.

Florida filed a 30-page brief Monday as it asks the Supreme Court for an order requiring more water to flow into the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay in a three-river system shared by the states. The battle focuses on whether Georgia is siphoning too much water upstream, ultimately damaging Apalachicola Bay's signature oyster fishery.

A special master appointed by the Supreme Court sided last year with Georgia, but justices will have final say about whether to grant Florida's request for what is known as an "equitable apportionment" of water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which stretches from northern Georgia to Apalachicola Bay in Franklin County.