Atlanta, GA running out of water in 3 months?

[Brent Burns]

Just saw these sources about Lake Lanier, the water source for Atlanta, GA is getting low and may run out in 3 months. For a long time, Georgia has not had much rain, right?

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14320447/detail.html

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... _1011.html

[Beta]

It's just another way to get us to drink more Coke.

The lake levels are really low, and with the screw up on the depth system a year or so ago...that just makes things worse.

Unless it can be bought and built on (land)...this city doesn't care.

[Zeuslax]

The city of Atlanta has been identified nationally as having a serious disconnect with resources both at the site and at the source level, especially when it comes to new construction. Hands down the worst market in the country and it's a shame too. The population boom created tons of opportunities.

As a side note the East Coast does a terrible job at controlling resources compared to west of the Appalachians.

[StrykerFSU]

Maybe Atlanta should just steal some more water from its neighbors to the south!

[Dan Wishengrad]

LOL I don't know if "the West", as a whole, really does such a great job of water management. The southwest desert region is growing very rapidly, but has no water of it's own to to tap. So much of the drinking water comes from the Colorado River system, which is not doing well itself and can't possibly handle the demands of this booming population growth, for drinking water, irrigation water for pretty green lawns and to fill all the swimming pools. Running giant pipelines from here in the Northwest (where everyone knows what we have is water, and plenty of it) has been suggested. L.A. gets it's water from an aging California Aqueduct system, which pumps it down from Northern Cal and from the Owens Valley. The San Joaquin Valley, considered "The Nation's Breadbasket" for it's enormous farming and livestock production, guzzles millions and millions of gallons of water, and many of the crops grown are not simply efficient users of this precious resource. Anybody who has ever driven down I-5 through central Cal in summer, with temperatures above 100 degrees, has seen this for themselves. Giant sprinklers shooting out water onto crops like alfalfa (the biggest water wasters, used almost exclusively to feed cattle who can live and grow well enough on natural forage alone), with 90 percent of this precious water actually being lost to evaporation. What a waste!

De-salinization is another long-term solution, but it is very costly. Still, some nations, like Israel, get most of their fresh water supplies by removing salt from adjacent ocean water. This may be another long-term solution for all our coastal areas, but will surely lead to the "mother-of-all" political battles in the future.

[CyLaxKeeper00]

Everyone around the country is drinking Atlanta's water.

[Steno]

You think we do a better job out West? Arguing over prior appropriation rights is the premier Western pastime. We just have rivers like the Colorado and temperate rain forests in the Northwest coupled with the most extensive dam and aquifer system in the world.

Vegas and Phoenix are the fastest growing cities in the US. They are both in the desert. We are awful at resource management.

[semilaxed]

I actually do some subsurface soil and groundwater sampling and we are having to change our methods for the Atlanta area because we are have to drill so deep to get groundwater now. Also I have noticed the complete lack of wells in Ga to extract groundwater. So once those lakes are gone they're screwed. They have a decent aquifer north of Atlanta most people just have to pony up the money.

[Zeuslax]

LOL I don't know if "the West", as a whole, really does such a great job of water management

Water isn't our only resource. I encourage you guys to take a look at other conservation actions taking place on the national scene.