I attempt to be unbiased in my facts that I lay out, but it’s hard not to be an advocate when you look out your back window every day and see dirt instead of lake.

Sure Atlanta has rights to some of that water. Or at least, Georgia does.

I will say that my math is generally accurate. The 2.5 billion gallon releases were not the norm, and the ACE specifically said it was releasing that much only so that it could populate the downstream reseveroirs, and with an eye on increasing the average flow for October/November to 1.7 billion gallons.

Ditto my consumption numbers - while yours doesn’t source the figures, the wiki entry does. Remember as we’d already discussed, many of the conservation methods are not assisting consumption in that they reduce both inflow and return in nearly equal ways.

I really don’t think 50 million gallons is entirely worth argueing about; I am more concerned with people batting around an old number and then getting caught up in semantics when someone argues against them. 500 million / 350 million is referenced as far back as 2003.

“Georgia because they have a legal right to the water that Georgia is reserving in those reseveroirs”

It seems when all the logical arguments are gone as to why downstream interests should get so much water, it always degenerates into their claim that they have a legal right to it.

I would just like to point out that who has a legal right to how much of the water has yet to be decided by the courts. Yes, they have a legal right to some - so does Atlanta have a legal right to some. Who has a legal right to how much? That’s a lot less clear and will probably be decided by the courts - and probably appealed to the supreme court.

Also - Your math of up to 25% of water released being consumed by Atlanta depends on the 800 MGD figure. When the releases were 2.5-3 Billion gallons per day as referenced on other parts of this forum the math would come out quite a bit different. I think you are using numbers toward the high end for Atlanta consumption and toward the low end for Buford Dam releases. I think 10% is more realistic.

In fact, I have a reference here that puts Atlanta metro consumption at 100 - 120 MGD (they didn’t source their figures). I honestly think 150 is more likely but we are coming up with numbers from 100 MGD - 200 MGD.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=104561

(1) Atlanta and it’s impact - You’re correct; metro Atlanta actually consumes around 200 million gallons (the previous thread has a link broken apart by locality). That is 18-20% of the average 1 billion - 1.2 billion gallon release. It’s actually 25% of the recent 800 million gallon releases. Regardless, Atlanta is NOT the main consumer of water from Lanier - the main consumer from Lanier is maintenence of the water supply downstream.

But because Georgia is saying the water needs to be kept in Lanier for metro Atlanta’s needs, Alabama and Florida are not wrong in casting Atlanta as the villain.

(2) Alabama and Florida will try to shoot down new reseveroir construction in Georgia because they have a legal right to the water that Georgia is reserving in those reseveroirs. Taking less water from the Chattahoochie and more water from another river that feeds Alabama or Florida, is just robbing Peter to pay Paul. They wouldn’t complain about a desalination plant. Or three. Or five. Or at least, they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if they did.

(3) The strictness is relative. And it’s human nature to want to see the other guy suffer as much or more, before you have to suffer. That’s what the whole water war is about.

So, Atlanta is the “bad guy” because Georgia is saying “We have to hold onto this water in Lanier for the people in metro Atlanta!” The only logical response is, “Metro Atlanta is responsible for Georgia’s position.” Therefore, you’re the bad guys.

What else should folks in Atlanta do?

The media show one town in Georgia turning their park fountains back on after digging a well, and a family in Florida that has lost their home because Appalacian Bay is not getting enough fresh water and they couldn’t make ends meet with the oysters and fish dying off. The sound bite for “It’s humans vs. mussels” plays regularly. There’s a real “understanding” that Atlanta people couldn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone but themselves.

It’s not true (and I know that so don’t go yelling at me). But to answer your question about what folks in Atlanta can do, it would be to write your media and get them to run special interest stories.

Or am I so close to being correct that you’re ashamed to address the actual issues here?

Come on, folks. This isn’t just a stimulating intellectual exercise for some of us — our main water supply has the potential to be impacted by this, unlike the supply for most of the residents of those other two states.

(1) Atlanta apparently removes less than 150 million gallons per day (net) from a flow which is many many times that. As such, it has very little impact on the flow of the river … or on the level of Lake Lanier … when compared to the total requirements downstream.

(2) Atlanta and its surrounding communities have attempted for years to have additional reservoirs built, but most of those were apparently shot down by downstream interests, and the one new reservoir which is almost completed (the Hickory Log Creek Reservoir) is being sued by Alabama again in order to stop it.

(3) The entire Atlanta metro is currently under some fairly strict water use restrictions (no outdoor water use at all except for a few special exceptions in the entire metro).

…and yet Atlanta is being painted as the Bad Guy.

What else should folks in Atlanta do?

Water rights are different in different parts of the country, owing to the differing climates. Western water rights are what’s known as prior appropriation, where rights to water are bought and sold similar to land or mineral rights. Eastern states historically have had more water so haven’t had to worry about having such a tight set of laws. Nowadays they fight just like everyone else out here.

Let’s hope that the La Nina ends sooner rather than later and we get a big fat hurricane right at the beginning of hurricane season next year. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the state of Georgia government will have been scared badly enough to build more reservoirs.

How about some examples. All the hate speech I see is from the left on this forum.