Atlanta Water Shortage

The question of “how many days worth of water do we have left?” never seems to have the same answer twice.

The Corps of Engineers say we have 279 days left. The state says we have about 111 days left. CNN says we have 67 days left (81 days left as of 14 days ago). Alabama Gov. Bob Riley thinks we have about 243 days left (250 days left as of a week ago). So what on earth is the right answer?

There are really two parts to this question. First, how long until we hit the 1035 foot mark in Lake Lanier? When that happens, water will no longer flow over Buford Dam. From there, we’ll need to use barges and pumps to get the water from that level, also known as the “dead pool”. Not only will the water be more difficult to get out, but it will be dirtier and require additional treatment. That leads to the second question — how long will the dead pool water last?

The dead pool estimates are few and far between. The Corps says that there are 169 days worth of water in the dead pool and I’ve not found anything to contradict that. The question is whether or not they can pump it out quickly enough to keep things rolling.

The tougher question is knowing how much longer until we get to the dead pool stage. Break out your calculators.

The last four weeks has seen a total drop in Lake Lanier of 3.22 feet. That works out to an average of about 0.8 feet per week (around 9-1/2 inches). Right now Lanier is at 1055.6 feet and the dead pool begins at 1035 feet — a difference of 20.5 feet. 20.5 feet, losing 0.8 feet per week, will last about 25.5 weeks, or 179 days.

However, this doesn’t take into account the fact that the drop in lake level will likely accelerate a little bit as it goes lower. Also, the last four weeks included 1.14 inches of rain, so if the next few weeks are dry (as predicted), the lake will also drop more quickly than it has for the past month.

So what’s the answer? It’s obviously very hard to say.  My wild guess would be about 20 weeks (140 days), assuming a little bit of rain and no change in the Corps release levels.  That puts us in mid-March.  At that point, they could start using the dead pool and we’d see how things go from there.

A report is expected today from state conservation groups that largely blames the drought on excessive growth in the area.  They admit that the lack of rain is obviously the primary cause, but feel that growth in the area has been a major factor.

While Gov. Sonny Perdue denies that growth is the cause, the fact that Paulding County has temporarily banned rezoning seems to speak otherwise.

The AJC has an interesting story about how the north part of Georgia should include part of the Tennessee River, which would give us access to all of that water.  However, a cheap governor in the early 1800’s caused the state line to be placed about a mile too far south, cutting us off from the river.

It doesn’t directly affect the current drought situation (and no, we shouldn’t try to sue to “claim what’s ours”), but it’s a unique story nonetheless.

We posted a few days ago that a tropical storm had formed south of Haiti, and there was a chance that it could dump some rain on it.  Sadly, it appears that the storm will miss us completely.  It’s done quite a number on the Bahamas and Cuba, and it could swipe the edge of Florida, but we’re not going to get a drop out of it.

The weather situation is looking pretty bad right now.  Both the Accuweather.com 15-day forecast and the Weather.com 10-day forecast show exactly zero rain.  Yuck.

The good news is that Lanier is still only dropping at about half the rate that you hear people talk about, but with no rain coming it’ll keep inching closer to the magic 1035 foot level.

Athens Family Dental Center (located in Athens, GA) has come up with a unique way to cut back on water — they’ve installed two portable toilets in their parking lot for their 30 employees and seven doctors to use. They still allow patients to use the regular toilets. Seems like a pretty good way to cut back on water usage. Assuming two flushes per day per person at about three gallons per flush, they’re saving about 6,600 gallons of water per month

Another way to save the same amount of water would be to install a gray water system, but I have to imagine the portable toilets were far less expensive.

In the event that Atlanta goes dry, I would expect a mad rush on portable toilets since all of the normal toilets would no longer flush. Maybe it’s time to invest some money in a Porta-Potty company?

As we were told about a week ago by Aquarium personnel, they’ve started turning off some non-fish exhibits at the Aquarium in an effort to conserve water.

To go with the waterless urinals and low-flow faucets they mentioned last week, they’ve now drained a lake in an atrium, turned off a waterfall and emptied a moat (which was refilled with sand).   In addition, they’ve banned pressure-washing on the building and they’re requiring all employees and volunteers to take a water-conservation course.

Meghann Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Aquarium, estimates that these changes will save more than three million gallons of water per year.

Along with the new $50-$100 rebates on low-flow toilets, Cobb County passed a few other new rules last night.

• Car dealers will no longer be allowed to wash vehicles on-site unless they have a system that uses recycled water.  Of course, having a dirty car can be seen as a badge of honor around here lately.
• Pressure washing for “beautification purposes” and for parking lots is now forbidden.  However, it is still allowed if needed for health or safety reasons.
• Landscapers are now given 15 days (instead of 30) to water new plants.

Those all seem like very reasonable moves.  I still fear for landscapers in the next few months, but this seems like a good compromise and a way to avoid the flip-flopping that they’ve had in Alpharetta.

Cobb County officials voted Monday night to approve a $50-$100 rebate for homes that replace older toilets with low-flow models.  Newer toilets like these use 1.6 gallons per flush, versus about 3 gallons for an older toilet.

It comes at a price, though.  The Toto Ultramax, apparently a popular choice, runs about $379, plus installation.  The $100 rebate helps, but it’s still a significant investment.

If you can’t spend the money on a new toilet, there are still ways to reduce the per-flush water usage — just put a brick in the tank and it will save a little bit of water with every flush.

(via WSB Radio)  Cobb County has put in place some restrictions aimed at getting their heaviest water users to cut back.  Folks that use over 30,000 gallons a month “could be hit with a 25 percent surcharge, if they don’t cut back”.  By comparison, most homes use less than 8,000 gallons a month.

They say these rules are in place primarily for commercial users such as landscapers and car washes.  Seems like it might just be a temporary stop, though, as I expect all of north Georgia to completely ban landscape watering and car washes within a few weeks, like Paulding county just did.

According to the AJC, Alpharetta has caved to landscapers that weren’t happy with the complete ban passed last week that prohibited watering new landscaping.

Both sides have had to compromise — new professional landscape can be watered, but only between midnight-10am and only on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Given the forecast for this winter and a dwindling lake Lanier, I think it’s quite likely that they’ll have to go back and ban everything again in the near future.  As Councilman D.C. Aiken said, “If we get to a Level 5 situation, this will be a moot point.”

As for Paulding County, they’ve gone ahead and instituted a complete ban.  This not only includes professional landscapers, but also car wash owners.  The only exception is for cash washes that use recycled water.  If they don’t, they’ll need to spend about $30,000 to upgrade they systems.  (details on 11Alive)