The Corps admit they could release less water, but it might be a while before they do
(via AJC) The Army Corps of Engineers has said that users in Florida and Alabama could handle reduced flow from the river, but they’re not exactly sure how much. Also, they’re not sure how little water the now-famous mussels and sturgeon could get by on.
The plan going forward is:
- The Corp will release a “biological assessment for species impacts” by this Friday.
- That assessment will go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- They’ll give us their own opinion.
- The assessments will “figure prominently” in meetings *today in Washington about what should be done.
(*today — That’s what the AJC said, but it doesn’t make sense. They can’t use the assessment today if it won’t be created for a few more days. I have no idea what they meant to say.)
It sounds to me like it’ll be at least a few weeks of meetings and stuff before they could potentially reduce the flow. Even then, it’s sure to face harsh criticism from Alabama and Florida, who are already concerned that any reduction in the flow could “shut down power plants, farms, fisheries and other businesses”.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:45 am
What if we all pledged to urinate directly into the river from now on? Two million people pissing is *a lot* of liquid.
Makes me want to pee just thinking about it! The river is only 3 minutes by car from my house. See you when I get back!
November 1st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
this is somewhat good news, but it could be better. although the gulf power plant needs x-amount of water to keep electric production…otherwise 19,000 homes will lose power in s.w. georgia, tallahasse, and parts of s.e. alabama.
keeping more water back will help and needs to be done for the short term to help curb the pain…..but it will only help for a short time. it doesn’t actually fix the problem. it just delays it. at this point gov. perdue and the state legislators should be implementing a task force to figure out a way to build more reservoirs and implement using reclaimed water for irrigation, and basically raise the price of water to encourage people to cut back. control growth. whatever it takes. let’s hope for a nice tropical storm to sit over lake lanier for awhile…but in the meantime, lets contact our legislators and let them know we are not happy with their knee jerk solutions and we want actual real plans and financing to build more reservoirs and long term water sustainability plans for the north part of this state. otherwise we are doomed to repeat history.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Ditto what jhb said. Without permanent strategies to cut this, it’s only going to happen again sometime. Water efficiency standards for appliances, making as much stuff “dry” as possible, low-flow faucets…it all makes sense. Lawns are just going to have to fend for themselves.