Posted on 10/26/2007 9:00:10 PM PDT by backtothestreets
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster each year. Across America, the picture is critically clear — the nation's freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst.
The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.
EXCERPT
Coastal states like Florida and California face a water crisis not only from increased demand, but also from rising temperatures that are causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. Higher temperatures mean more water lost to evaporation. And rising seas could push saltwater into underground sources of freshwater.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Earth to Earth: Climate changes. Better get used to it. It’s only been going on for billions of years.
Florida and Georgia are suffering drought conditions because of the dearth of Altantic hurricanes this year, simple as that. You have to ask them which way they want it??
If all the glaciers were melting and temperatures were rising, I’d expect to see steam clouds everywhere. Humidity all over the place. Rain, even.
Haven’t they ever heard of the water cycle?
Unless the vapor barrier is burned off into space, it has to return to earth somewhere. Doesn’t it?
The global warming crowd is talking out of both sides of their mouth. First, they tell us that we’re going to be flooded because of melting icecaps. Now they say that we’re going to suffer thru droughts because of evaporation.
Lions and tigers and bears!
These globalist naysayers predicting the end of the planet probably just were not around to observe — or participate in — a really serious man-made global problem of some significance —1939-1945 — when over 12 million citizens of Planet Earth gave their lives to another of man’s foibles.
Woodstockers — get a life and knock off the the 420 stuff. And, BTW, call me when my Sunday tee-time at The Cloisters is canceled because the course is underwater! *S*
If we have a drier summer, its because of global warming. If we have a wetter summer, its global warming. More hurricanes, global warming. Less hurricanes, global warming. Hotter temperatures, global warming. Colder temperatures, global warming. More Tsunamis, global warming, less Tsunamis, global warming. More UFO sightings, global warning, less UFO sightings, global warming. You have to get with the program.
Don’t forget one of the last home grown businesses that China can’t take..... Bottled Water is the latest cause of Global Warming.
Funny, little news media talked about the truckloads of Bottled
Water flowing in to Global Warmed and burning California all donated by the industry.
Atlanta votes for the hurricanes! Secondary tornadoes pogo-stick over my house anyway.
Because I am an American and am doing the work reporters won’t do:
SIERRA NEVADA SNOWPACK VARIABILITY AND BASEFLOW GENERATION
“In 2005, the April 1 snowpack was 160% of normal, and SCA depletion at each elevation band lagged that of 2004 by about one month; 2006 was similar.”
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2007AM/finalprogram/abstract_132103.htm
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good climate scare AP!
Exactly right little blue man!
Also though, you should make it more clear to everyone that all the "wildlife" protection is politically motivated machinations.
Our water supply has been mismanaged. The federal functionaries dropped the reservoir levels in accordance with legal maneuvering using EPA and Endangered Species Act mandates but no consideration of our local needs. Many years ago, the lake was always at a normal level only fluctuating up or down inches. In recent years they have drastically emptied it in the winter to, as the Corps of Engineers would have us believe, provide a buffer to prevent possible flash flooding from heavy spring rains or to prevent downstream levels from getting to low at other times.
For years Georgia has complained that heavy rains haven't come and the reservoir levels are being maintained much to low. The Corps of Engineers has even acknowledged mistakes, but that doesn't help rectify our dire situation.
Our problem is the US Army Corps of Engineers management plan lets the same constant outflow of water around the damn at all times. It's as if you had your own well water but couldn't fill your bathtub because your neighbor was granted the privilege to allow him to keep his bathtub full before your's.
As proposed in the Georgia Water Coalition 2004 position paper; we should have a natural flow of water to reflect the natural levels in the downstream river as if the dam did not exist. This would maintain a sustainable lake level that would get us through any eventuality.
This is from a newspaper article on Governor Purdue's press conference this week .
In the past week, the corps has been releasing an average of 1.2 billion gallons of water a day from Lanier to send downstream. That's more than four times the amount flowing into Lanier from its rivers and streams, including the Chattahoochee and Chestatee rivers. For months, streams across the Southeast have been flowing at or near their record lows.
We need to immediately begin holding more water in Lake Lanier and allow only "unimpaired" flows, in other words, flows that would exist if the river were in its natural state, so the lake can refill this spring. That would allow us flexibility should the drought persist for another year or two.
This is a press release from Senator Isakson last year.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON – During a Senate field hearing in Gainesville, Ga., U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today implored the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep its commitment to update its outdated water control plan for the two river basins that serve Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Isakson said updating the water control plan for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa and Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins would go a long way toward more fair management of the water supply that millions of Georgians rely on for drinking, business and recreation. "In the absence of updating the water control plan, we're going to continue to have our hands tied in not being able to make the best decisions in managing these river basins," Isakson said at the hearing. Isakson made the comments to corps officials as he chaired a field hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) also participated in the hearing. "The water control plan is decades old. Thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of residents have moved to this part of Georgia since then. It is imperative that we update the water control plan to reflect 21st century demand and usage," Isakson said. "An updated plan is the critical piece of this whole thing." Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as well as Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers testified at the hearing, which drew more than 700 people. Forsyth County Commission Chairman Jack Conway, Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce President Kit Dunlap and Jackie Joseph of the Lake Lanier Association also testified. Alabama sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1990 to block the corps from giving metro Atlanta any more water out of Lake Lanier. The lake, which is owned by the corps and is located 35 miles northeast of Atlanta, holds two-thirds of the water stored on the Chattahoochee River. Since then, Alabama, Florida and Georgia have made a number of attempts to negotiate a long-term agreement on how to share water. In June a faulty gauge allowed 22 billion gallons to be accidentally released from Lake Lanier, further lowering the lake level. The states worked out a short-term deal that expired on July 24. ###
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Thank you for keeping me straight and providing excellent information.
It really was a “hit n’ run” post. Sorry. :)
Lets be honest here...for 30 years...both Georgia and Florida knew they had a booming population...and didn’t readily build any reservoirs. They were living within the 1940’s planning structure. You have the same case with Tucson/Phoenix, Vegas, Dallas, Nashville and dozens of major cities in the US. We have millions upon millions of acres where reservoirs could be built. Alabama alone....could host 400,000 acres of lakes throughout the state. Think of the fishing and boating opportunities that you generate...more tourism and you have a stock of water waiting to pump off to Atlanta (for a fee, of course). But you don’t see anyone talking reservoirs...they all want some technology development to fix the problem.
well, we had to import the worlds poorest nations here and now the numbers have shifted. makes sense we are having shortages. Idiotic government people who allowed this to happen.
yeah. that is the process. they are just insane.
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