Creative Loafing Atlanta

Fresh Loaf

« 5 things to do: Monday | Photo of the Day: Cat burger »

        
Tweet

Share

Monday, November 30, 2009

News State pushes reservoirs, interbasin transfers to solve metro Atlanta water woes

Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 3:29 PM

On Nov. 23, Gov. Sonny Perdue opened his West Paces Ferry duplex to the business-heavy task force he assembled to help solve Georgia's water woes. The purpose: just what the hell is Georgia going to do to ensure it has enough water to not only handle future growth, but accommodate current residents?

According to the task force, metro Atlanta could miss out on $26 billion each year in economic output if the region loses Lake Lanier as its primary source of drinking water. A federal judge has set a 2012 deadline for Georgia to strike a deal with Alabama and Florida in its 19-year "water war" and be given U.S. Congress' approval to use the north Georgia lake — or risk seeing its millions of gallons of water be called off limits.

And three years isn't enough time to fill the gap, the task force says.

If you're a fan of reservoirs — and the myriad lakefront development possibilities those massive holes could bring — then you're in luck. The task force's plan proposes building eight new reservoirs — one of which could be located on City of Atlanta-owned land in Dawson County — and expanding additional bodies of water. The role water conservation could play, either with toilet and fixture retrofits, gray-water recycling, or fixing leaky pipes, pales in comparison.

Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club and longtime fixture at the Gold Dome, says the state's plan of attack relies too heavily on creating new sources of water and overlooks cost-effective conservation measures.

"There are more extensive and expensive boondoggles in this document that I would have thought anyone would have the nerve to combine into a single parcel of political dynamite," Herring says. "The beauty of most of these 'remedies' is that the facts that they are either unneeded, or won't work, or both, are not going to be discovered until great wads of public money have been poured down the ratholes they create."

He continues: "Meanwhile, actual, cost effective ways to cut Metro water use dramatically are either ignored, or given poor marks for cost effectiveness."

Heriing thinks the potential cost of the state's proposal could dwarf the interstate highway program, which he considers the largest development in Georgia's history. Unlike that project, however, the additional reservoirs and infrastructure work might receive little, if any, federal funding.

Meanwhile, some reservoirs are already ensnared in the middle of political battles, as is the case with a proposed project in South Fulton (subscription required). Herring also says task force members should consider moratoriums on new developments until water supply and infrastructure can be guaranteed for the new growth.

Also on the agenda are tapping aquifers and the controversial practice of interbasin transfers, or piping in water from distant rivers and lakes. That's a touchy (and environmentally unfriendly) measure that pits metro vs. rural lawmakers — and could trigger a civil war in the General Assembly when the next legislative session convenes on Jan. 11.

The 63-page presentation is a dense and technical document. If you're in the mood to get all the details, however, click here to download the PDF.)

Tags: News, Gov. Sonny Perdue, environment, water, Tri-State-Water-War, conservation, Sonny Perdue, Green Atlanta, 2010 general assembly, interbasin transfers, water w

Comments (1)

Showing 1-1 of 1

Add a comment

I do not have all the details of this massive problem but has anyone thought of drawing water from many minor sources and adding to the whole. I'm thinking of a spider web type distribution network. SIONIX units would be perfect for this sort of plan due to their portability. To see an overview of SIONIX go to www.mngeos.com click on SIONIX.

report