Lake Lanier water fight heats up

[donsu]

http://www.atlantawatershortage.com/


Cumming having to work hard to keep getting water from Lanier
November 11th, 2007

(via an e-mail from AWS reader David) There are a couple of interesting stories today in the Gainesville Times about how Cumming and Gainesville are having to make some changes in order to keep getting water from Lake Lanier.

Gainesville is in pretty good shape, with intakes that go “all the way down to the bottom of the lake”. They say their two major intakes can work as low as 1023 and 1024 feet. That’s not exactly the bottom of the lake, but it’s pretty far down.

Cumming has bigger problems, but they’re working through them. One of their major intakes is at 1053 ft., which was put there in the 70’s because “there was no historical data that indicated that the lake would go below the 1053 elevation.” I don’t know how low the lake will ultimately get, but I’m positive it’ll be below 1053 (it’s at 1053.98 today).

To combat this problem, they’ve extended the intake pipe by about 50 feet to help it reach deeper, and they say it can be extended further if they need to. You can read the full story for more information.
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can you hear the water rushing out of the Lake and the silence from any water coming in

disregarding prayer, what is plan B when the water runs out?

[hlthe2b]

1. I cringed when I heard about the GA Governor holding a prayer

session.. Now, I've got no problem with religion, but for heaven's sake! The signal that sends from your senior elected official--a miracle from God is Atlanta's only solution? GOvernor Sonny Perdue :eyes:

I say turn the response over to your far more competent (at least from what I've gleaned from a distance) black female mayor. Sorry, I know her name is Shirley, but her last name escapes me. GOod luck, Georgians. As a former long term resident of GA, i.e., Atlanta, I'm rooting for ya.

[onehandle]

5. "A miracle from God" would be for the idiots here in Georgia to put Democrats back in charge.

Sadly, they're here for good. Which is why my wife and I will be leaving the state sometime next year.

Her name is Shirley Franklin.

[hlthe2b]

7. Where are you guys moving to?

I can relate to how hard it is to live in GA among RW idiots. Even if you can manage to surround yourself with other like-minded progressives, it takes its toll.

The weekend I came back to close on the sale of my house (in Newt Gingrich's old district, yeach), I took a bit of pleasure. It was the weekend Newt returned in disgrace to GA after loosing his leadership position and he was there in the airport, sans entourage, waiting in the baggage area while talking on his cell phone. It took every bit of restraint I had not to go over and give him some well-deserved shit. But, I just smiled to myself and kept going...

[n2doc]

2. Plan b is to steal it from others

But it will take time. I suspect in the short term it will be huge increases in domestic household water bills, but biz will be "exempt" from these.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. where exactly do you see the plan to 'steal'? n/t

[n2doc]

10. A lot of discussion about pumping it out of the Coastal rivers like the Savannah

And to release less water downstream from the ones they already get.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/101207EA.shtml

http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/topstory.aspx?articleid=24176&zoneid=83

And reducing river flow will just increase the strain on aquifers:

http://www.garivers.org/gawater/aug7ajc.html

Having see this during the California water wars of the 70's and 80's, there is no good solution other than conservation. Everything else means something or someone gets screwed.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. pumping it out of other rivers is NOT viable in the near term

as the logistics are a nightmare...

As far as releasing less down stream...well, right now they release anywhere between 8 and 20 times more down stream than comes into the lake daily...hell, the 'Hooch is at near flood-stage in the midst of the worst drought in 50 years...

Most of the blame for this falls on water management. Yes, conservation is the long term answer...but this problem is more related to water release than water usage...

sP

[donsu]

12. not so - it's both - bottom line, water is going out, not coming in

in the lake. and if a few rains happen, it will hardly be noticed.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. like i said...long term it is conservation as the answer

short term...we need to reduce downstream flow to something more realistic. Lake Oconee (a little east of ATL) is FULL! There is 20 times more water released daily from Lanier than the Atlanta area takes out for use...that is within the range of error on the flow sensors on the outflow ports on the dam...

The thing people seem to be missing in both the Atlanta area AND downstream, is that at the current rate, in 9 mos the lake will literally be dry...then what will AL and FL do then say NOTHING of the Atlanta area...

sP

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Rain Man?

Rain Dance?

Not to make light of a serious issue, but if I don't laugh I could cry.

[donsu]

4. I know what you mean - what a calamity

nt

[hlthe2b]

8. Tuesday Afternoon... What is the work in your sigline?

:thumbsup:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. The Scream ...guy? Love his work, too. however this is a

Bob Masse poster inre to my username and the band. Thanks for asking.

[hlthe2b]

14. Thanks... I knew after posting that, I was wrong...

I actually was thinking Alphonse Mucha or Maxfield Parrish, whose work it sort of resembles.... 'Couldn't get my mind wrapped around Bob Masse, but now that you enlarge it, it is obvious. THanks!