Atlanta Water Shortage

I’ve had a very strange series of e-mails with White Water regarding their water usage, restrictions, etc. It started with me asking a few simple questions via a form on their website. This was a few weeks ago, on about January 9.

I have a lot of users asking what your status will be for this summer, in regards to the drought. While things obviously could change, it looks likely that residential swimming pools won’t be allowed to open.

Where do things stand for you right now? If today was opening day, would you legally be allowed to open? What is the outlook for your normal opening today?

Any information you can provide would be great.

Thanks!

Mickey
Atlanta Water Shortage Blog
– other contact info… –

A few days later on January 11, the following message was sent from one Six Flags staffer to two others and I was copied on it (though it appears the copy was accidental).

H—,

I have a few of these email questions coming through our Six Flags Comment System. Do you want me to forward to you to address or will we have a standard message I can use to reply to them? I have little doubt as the summer nears we will get quite a few daily.

T—-

I figured that meant I’d hear something back soon, but nothing ever arrived. I gave them a few weeks, then wrote wrote to all three WW staffers on January 22 to try to get a status.

T—-,

You copied me on this e-mail about two weeks ago (by mistake?), but I still haven’t heard a word from you. Are you able to answer these questions, or do I need to look elsewhere for the answers?

Thanks,
Mickey

Today, more than three weeks after my initial contact, they finally responded.

Dear Mickey,

Thank you for your inquiry about Six Flags White Water regarding the recent news coverage about our water rides.

As you know guest safety and guest satisfaction are always our top priorities. At this time, we are still reviewing all of our options and continuing discussions with local and state officials, as all businesses are doing regarding their water use.

Six Flags White Water opens on May 24, and we’re looking forward to another great season. In fact, Six Flags White Water was recently voted one of the nation’s 10 best water parks by industry leader, Aquatics International. For more information on Six Flags White Water or to purchases a season pass, please visit www.sixflags.com/whitewater.

Again, thank you for your inquiry and we look forward to seeing you in 2008!

Sincerely,

H— —–
Six Flags White Water

What? It almost looks like they saw “water” in my e-mail and just sent me the standard reply. I didn’t think any of my questions were overly difficult, but maybe I was wrong.

All in all, I’m not very impressed with White Water. At least give us some decent information about what’s going on, rather than garbage about how great you are.

Blech.

This seems rather odd.  An article in today’s AJC talks about a plan to ease restrictions on outdoor watering, depsite Lake Lanier falling further below its normal (seasonal) level.

From the article:

A deal in the works could allow homeowners who take a short, online water conservation class to water their lawns and gardens during certain times. Landscape professionals who take a similar class — either online or in person — would be allowed to irrigate, within limits.

However, the article does a good job of looking at both sides.  Along with the information about the proposed easing of the restrictions, they also have some quotes from people on the other side of the fence.

But state climatologist David Stooksbury said the state may need to tighten water restrictions, not loosen them. In his drought update released Thursday, Stooksbury said the drought persists despite the recent rain and snow and there is a concern that there won’t be enough rain this winter and spring to build a cushion for the summer, when it is driest and water use spikes.

The president of the  Georgia Urban Agriculture Council, Mary Kay Woodworth, said that they need an answer by February 15 in order to give growers and garden centers time to stock up.  That certainly seems like a fair request.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this.   No timetable was given for a decision.

According to an article in the AJC (thanks to Gary for the link), some nuclear reactors in the southeast could be forced to shut down later this year due to the drought.  While this likely wouldn’t lead to blackouts, it could result in electric bills going up 10 times higher.  Ouch!

Some quotes of interest from the article:

•  “…Lake Norman near Charlotte is down to 93.7 feet – less than a foot above the minimum set in the license for Duke Energy Corp.’s McGuire nuclear plant.  The lake was at 98.2 feet just a year ago…”
• “…[this] could lead to shockingly higher electric bills for millions of Southerners, because the region’s utilities could be forced to buy expensive replacement power from other energy companies…”
• “…Currently, nuclear power costs between $5 to $7 to produce a megawatt hour…It would cost 10 times that amount if you had to buy replacement power – especially during the summer…”

I don’t think that Georgia has any plants in such a dire situation yet, but things could certainly change.

I’d be curious to know what would happen to the cost of power in Atlanta if one or more of the plants in North Carolina had to shut down.  I’m sure the price increase would have a ripple effect, but how much?

Things are still looking really ugly for Lake Lanier, but Lake Allatoona has somehow gotten back up to its normal winter level.

Granted, that means its still about 17 feet below its normal summer pool level, but that is normal for this time of year.  In fact, if the lake was any higher than it is right now, the Army Corps would have lowered it to this level anyhow (hopefully not during a drought, though).

I find it interesting that Allatoona has been able to rise about five feet in the last month, while Lanier has only gone up by about six inches.  I guess it’s all of the downstream interests pulling water out of Lanier, while Allatoona has far fewer obligations of that nature.

An article yesterday in the AJC shows some of the growing concern that parents are facing as they realize that pools might not be filled this summer.  We’ve talked about this before, but this article shows that more people are starting to realize it.

Back in September of last year, all outdoor water use was banned.  This includes filling or adding water to any outdoor pool.  As of right now, that ban is still in effect.  Some pools are making plans to fill somehow — Edgewater Subdivision may add a pump to their well to get water for the pool.

Most others are simply “hoping that it rains”, my subdivision included.

As reported by Watercrunch, Georgia’s General Assembly ratified a new statewide water plan.  Some notable pieces:

• 11 water planning districts will be created
• It will be about a year before they’re up and running
• The cost for this effort is estimated around $36 million
• The amended budget includes:
  • $40 million for reservoirs and other needs
  • $500K for upgrades to 20 dams

The Watercrunch blog entry has the full details.

Given the prediction of a warm, dry winter, I figured it was pretty unlikely that we’d see snow this year — much less see snow twice in a week!

It’s been fun to play in, but has it helped? Not really. The two storms combined only brought us about 2/10″ of water, which isn’t very much at all.

Lake Lanier continues to slowly rise, but it’s probably not enough compared to how much it should rise this winter. Sadly, it looks like our next good chance of rain won’t be until the end of the month.

With the session starting today, the drought figures to be a key issue for Georgia’s lawmakers.  This article at 11Alive makes it sound like they’ll be working hard to get something done, which I don’t doubt.  Carol Couch, director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division said “At the end of this session, there will be a water plan.”

The article doesn’t get into too many specific ideas, but here are a few they bring up:

• Build more reservoirs.
• More requirements regarding use of low-flow showers, toilets, etc.
• Target leaks in local water systems.

None of that is new, but it’d be nice to see them actually do something rather than simply continue to talk about it.

According to the Lawrenceville Weather Blog, we’ve got a chance at seeing some snow (or sleet, or freezing rain, or ice) next week.

Accuweather almost agrees, saying that we’ll get “Rain, which can freeze on surfaces late”.  Whichever forecast you prefer, it seems like to be near freezing with some precipitation, which means it could get interesting.

Accuweather is calling for around 4/10″.  Even if it’s frozen, it will melt pretty quickly and give us a tiny bit of relief.  The lake has been holding pretty steady lately (we’re at the exact same level as last Sunday - 1051.28′), but this is the time of year when we really need it to start rising.

The annual Peachtree Road Race, the Atlanta Pride Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Dogwood Festival have all been moved from Piedmont Park to undecided locations because of the drought.

According to an article on WSB, the “drought has taken a toll on the park’s 185 acres and the park cannot withstand the heavy traffic the major events bring”.

Seems odd to me that they’d go through the trouble to move these events (certainly not a small task) to try to not “disrupt the park’s turf”.  Is it really in that bad of shape?