Access Atlanta > The Newcomer > Archives > 2008 > August > 20 > Entry
Newcomers Guide to Drought.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is drought?
A newcomer pal moved here from the desert of Arizona. As far as he and his fiance are concerned, you can shower just by stepping outside in Atlanta. (I exaggerate; it is a shower, but it’s not as unpleasant as he first thought.) This did not seem like drought.
Believe it. Even with more-than-usual rain last month, we’re deep in drought.
This photo from Shoal Creek cove area at Lake Lanier was shot in June 2008. That dock used to float.
If you’ve been around, you know the story: the beach-less weekends, the high water bills, the low-flow toilets, the angry red blot over the the northeast chunk of Georgia.
If you haven’t, here’s a quick explainer: droughts are cyclical. No matter how responsible you are with your sprinkler, they happen. Atlanta had a pretty rough one 1999-2001. This one is worse, and after more than two years, there’s no end in sight. Most of Georgia is in a severe drought, Atlanta included. The areas that hold our water are in the scarier “extreme” and “exceptional” categories. (Remember, angry red blots. Check it on the map.)
What makes it stick around? Low rainfall, and too much drain on the main water sources. The Atlanta metro area relies on Lake Allatoona and Lake Lanier for water. Allatoona is full, but could drain quickly. Lanier, which is much larger, is setting new records for low levels every day. (Here’s a great story about why one is full and the other isn’t.)
What could get us out of it? Well, the old record for low levels in Lake Lanier was set in December 1981 — we’ve so broken that record now — and “epic rainfall” snapped us out of that drought within months. Yes: a hurricane or a tropical storm shooting up from the Gulf, or maybe over from the East, would help our drought. Consistent rainfall, especially in winter, would help, too. We were way up last month, when it all evaporated away, but June was way down. Here’s the area’s rainfall scorecard.
What can you do about it, oh newcomer?
First, don’t move here expecting to maintain a very Southern yard with a clean white porch, blooming azaleas and vast stretches of green. Consider some drought-friendly, low-maintenance landscaping, like folks in this story by Katie Leslie.
Second, reduce water use. There are tons of tips, ideas and rules to live by. And even more in our summer 2008 drought survival guide. They work! Water use was down 20 percent in June, and 15 percent in July! Go us!
Third, consider where you plan to buy or build. Development in the watershed surrounding Lake Lanier only makes drought worse. Protect wetlands and build wisely.
We’re expecting 4 million people to use a limited supply of water from fragile, man-made lakes. Reporter Stacy Shelton described it to me this way: it’s like setting a barrel outside and expecting it to capture enough water for a family of twelve. When mom is pregnant. With triplets. If it’s raining long often enough and hard enough, the family will be fine. But when it stops, somebody’s going thirsty.
Newcomers, were you expecting drought when you arrived, and how have you handled it? Long-timers, what’s your drought survival advice?
Comments
By GA
August 20, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this
I would suggest that newcomers treat our natural resource as if no drought existed at all… exactly as some of our established residence are doing. Driving in this morning I noticed no less than 5 sprinkler systems spraying away. 2 of those were major corporations. So why follow the law… go ahead and water all you want newcomers… If you don’t… someone else will. And don’t feel bad about it. And when you get caught just respond… “Drought???.. What drought???” Dumb seems to work in Georgia.
By Plumber's Helper
August 20, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this
It’s a Southern custom to shower and bathe together - we/ve been doing it for generations. If you need to find a bathing partner, I suggest Craig’s List - just go to the personals section and create a posting with a title something like “28 yo female seeking good looking, well built male for bathing and showering together”. You will soon be overwhelmed with invitations from true Southern gentlemen looking to welcome you to Georgia and help out a damsel in distress. Good luck!
By MrLiberty
August 20, 2008 12:18 PM | Link to this
Jamie, are you employed on the side as a mouthpiece for our failed state government - sort of the propaganda minister of water?
In all that text, you never bothered even once to point out how we ended up in the situation we are in - government failure.
Government, not a private business, runs the water distribution system in this state. They get their operating budget through taxation (unlimited theft) and the sale of water. They are about politics and the corruption it brings.
For decades the state and local governments have been encouraging growth in this state. They have been promoting cheap TVA power and water. Bottling facilities like Gatorade and Coke have been enthusiatically welcomed along with an enormously wasteful multi-million gallon aquarium. Yet the state only has the one product to sell - water.
Yes, we had a horrible drought nearly a decade ago. Has the state done anything since to insure an adequate supply of water to match the growth they are encouraging or the inevitable cyclical drought? A story back during the Kentucky flooding indicated that enough rain fell there in 3 days to last us in Atlanta 47 years! Why no pipeline? Why not small feeder collection ponds and pipes? Surely in 10 years this could have been accomplished. The Alaska pipeline took only 2 years, was neary 900 miles long, and required a massive feat of engineering just to deal with the permafrost and the huge Denali earthquake fault. The gentle Smoky Mountains would have been an easy crossing.
So where are we after 10 years and a second drought? Nowhere of course.
Jamie, be sure and tell the newcomers how screwed they are going to feel when they conserve and then get hit with a surgharge to compensate for their reduced revenue.
No private company could ever get away with this kind of crap. But government, keely supported by its mouthpieces in the media gets away with it every day. Thanks for covering for them Jamie.
By ab
August 22, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this
MrLiberty, well said. It is still interesting that the only place there is serious shortage seems to be Lake Lanier. Interesting.