If you’ve been reading the papers or listening to the radio recently, you’ve certainly heard all the concerns about the drought that is affecting much of North Georgia. Even the New York Times carried an article in its edition Tuesday, carrying a callout that said, “People counted on a hurricane season. it was disappointing.”

State officials, US Senators and representatives, and the metro Atlanta Chamber called out the US Army Corps of Engineers for releasing twice as much water from Lake Lanier than the Atlanta area uses per day to protect mussels in Florida’s Lake Apalachicola and provide power to a single coal-fired plant in Alabama. The Corps’ position is that it is required by the Endangered Species Act to release the water. Lawsuits are imminent.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division chief Carol Couch is going to make recommendations to Governor Sonny Perdue on further restrictions on water use. No matter what she comes up with, economic development for some industry is likely to suffer; the question is who is going to have to bear the burden, and at what price.

There is some good news, though. A series of weather systems is going to pass through North Georgia over the next week that could bring as much as half an inch of rain on Wednesday and Thursday, and another inch next Tuesday. Obviously, this won’t end the drought, but it’s a start. In addition even more rain is predicted along the Georgia- Alabama border, which will help replenish the Chattahoochee, and might prompt the Corps of Engineers to reduce the amount of water released from Lake Lanier, if only for a while.

For residents of Gwinnett County, there’s even more positive news.

Officials and the media have said that Lake Lanier could ‘run dry’ within the next three months. This is slightly misleading: what would actually happen is that the water level would drop below what Buford Dam could release, causing the Chattahoochee to run dry. While this would be bad news for the counties below the lake (DeKalb, Fulton, etc), and the precious mussels on the Gulf Coast, Gwinnett’s water supply would not be affected, since the intake pipe for the Shoal Creek water plant is located well below the top of the dam.

In addition, the Gwinnett County Commission today signed an agreement to return highly treated wastewater from the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources plant to the lake. While this won’t solve the short term water shortage, in the long run, it allows the county to return waste water to the location it came from: a real challenge for a county that drains stormwater into four different river systems.

Finally, Frank Stephens, who was appointed to the head of Gwinnett’s Water Resource Department a few years ago, is being reassigned to a position where he can research and advocate for the county’s water needs. While this my sound like a demotion, it returns Frank to his area of expertise, and will help the county in its effort to develop a water plan to meet the needs of its citizens.

What do you think should be done to help metro Atlanta through the current drought situation? Feel free to put in your ideas below.

Posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Categories: Drought.

RSS 2.0 Comments Feed  •  Leave a Response  •  Trackback