Georgia water shortage

Foxnews.com ^ | 10/17/07 | Associated Press

[msrngtp2002]

Georgia Officials Threaten to Sue Corp of Engineers Over Draining Reservoirs

[bobjam]

Only three or four more months of water?

Why is Atlanta in this situation in the first place? Does the region’s water plan for the future consist soley of telling the Corps when to release what from Lake Lanier?

If it weren’t for Congress and the Corps, there wouldn’t be a Lake Lanier in the first place.

[Ragnar54]

So, are you saying we should knock down every dam operated by the Corps so as to be independent of them? Or are you claiming that every other region in the country has an emergency backup water supply for those occasions when the Corps decides to drain the main reservoir?

The reason we are in this situation is that the watermelons (red on the inside..) have forced the Corps (through the endangered species act) to release excess water for the sake of some mussels that no one cares about. The Corps has made no attempt to regulate flow based on drought conditions (or their "accidental" spill of 22 billion gallons). The Governor has been fighting since at least early 2006 to have the Corps use a more rational water release plan (one that places priority on people, not mussels).

Lanier has been in place for 59 years:

"Congress authorized Buford Dam for construction in 1946 as part of the overall development of the nation’s waterways after the Second World War. The river and harbor legislation that came out of Congress during this time period was targeted at developing the nation’s rivers systems for national defense, flood control, power production, navigation and water supplies. " (from the Corps website).

The development around the Atlanta area since the '50s has been based on the assumption of an adequate water supply. This was a reasonable assumption until the watermelons got into the act. The real goal of the watermelons is to put an end to development and install leftist politicians; most of them don't really care about the "endangered" species. Since most "endangered" species have been trying to go extinct for eons, we should have a new national policy of helping them out by pushing them over the edge.

[bobjam]

I like the watermelon term- environmentalists who are “green” on the outside but commie red on the inside.

The overarching problem seems to be that the Atlanta area is growing beyond what can be sustained by a water supply installed over 50 years ago. This is much the same problem that California has with its electric grid. Even if the Corps had not “accidentally” dumped 22 billion gallons, there would only be three or four months supply left in the resevoir.

What is Greater Atlanta doing to find new sources of potable water? Is there a push to irrigate with reclaimed water (becoming increasingly common in Florida)?

[Ragnar54]

My keyboard made an error on the last post :). This is the 50th anniversary of the opening of Lake Lanier.

I don't think that there are many farmers using Lanier water. Farming is mostly in the southern part of the state, using other water sources (e.g., the Flint and Suwannee rivers). Since the entire state is suffering from a drought, farmers have been hurt (there is much dependence on rainwater).

The 22 billion gallons was estimated to be about 118 days (about 4 months) at the time. We currently have about 3 months left. So, without the spill, we would have 6 months left.

Aside from the endangered mussels and oopsies by the Corps, the major consumers of water from Lanier are those pesky neighboring states and Georgia Power. A nuclear power plant would reduce the need to release water from the lake during the AC season.

In 2004, Governor Perdue signed legislation ordering the EPD to develop the first statewide water management plan. The first draft was released for comments in June of this year:

The Water Council

This is not something that most of us have been aware of. The current crisis has no doubt raised the awareness of many Georgians. The entire Georgia congressional delegation has just introduced legislation to suspend the Endangered Species act during times of drought.

Lawmakers propose lifting species protections in drought

So maybe the entire nation will ultimately benefit from this.

[mjp]

disagree on how to manage the region's limited water supply.

raise prices of water