Atlanta Water Shortage

The city of Atlanta wants to tighten their water restrictions, but now has to jump through some hoops.

On May 14, Gov. Perdue signed House Bill 1281, which made it illegal for any local government to override the state’s water restrictions without permission.  The Environmental Protection Division is reviewing the request, along with a request to reduce restrictions in Coweta County.

To clear things up, here are the current restrictions for most of north Georgia:

• No sprinklers. Use a hand-held garden hose with an automatic shut-off only. Only one hose at a time.
• Water three days a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for houses with odd-numbered addresses and Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays for houses with even-numbered addresses.
• Water between midnight and 10 a.m.
• Water for 25 minutes only.
• More liberal rules for new landscaping allow sprinklers for ten weeks after planting new grass, shrubs, trees and flowers, on the three-day schedule and limited hours.
  • To use the more lenient rules, homeowners must be certified through an on-line course given by the Georgia Urban Agriculture Council at www.urbanagcouncil.com. Certification is also available from each county’s extension agent.

The Atlanta City Council’s Utilities Committee has a plan in place to raise water rates by 27.5% this year and roughly 12.5% for each of the next three years.  Understandably, Atlanta residents aren’t pleased.

The increased revenue would go toward a $4 billion project to improve the city’s water and sewer system.  Atlanta has been showcased as a city in dire need of repair in those areas, so the plan has some merit.  In addition, the higher rates would likely help to curb usage and help keep more water in the system.

Water usage by Atlanta residents is a rather small piece of the problem, but anything to help people conserve would be a good thing.  On the other hand, the rate of those increases seems a bit insane, doesn’t it?  The result would be more than an 80% increase in rates in just four years.  You’d think there would be a better way.

According to an article in the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Army Corps of Engineers expect Lake Lanier to fall around six feet this summer if the weather is similar to 2007.

On the other hand, he said that it could possibly refill by the end of the year if there were heavy rains.  From what I can gather, the only way it’ll fill by the end of the year is if those “heavy rains” are from hurricanes and/or tropical storms, which is certainly possible.

A drop of six feet from our current level would put the lake at roughly 1051′.  While that would be bad for business at the lake (as they mentioned in the article), there really wouldn’t be any impact on our water supply.  Even dropping below the dead pool would have a minimal effect.

I’m curious why they say it would only be a six foot drop if the weather was similar to last year.  Last year from this time to the end of the year we saw about a 15 foot drop.  We’re starting lower this year, would means that water would drop more quickly.  Why just six feet?  Anyone know the answer?

On another note, I apologize for the lack of posts lately — there simply hasn’t been much news.  If you know of a story that we should mention on the site, please feel free to contact me.  Thanks!

As we’ve done for the past few months, here is the updated chart showing the water level of Lake Lanier. I had predicted that the lake would hold steady (or maybe drop), but instead it rose by about a foot over the past month. A foot isn’t much, but it was a surprise boost.

As you can see, we should really start seeing a drop now. I’d love to be wrong again, but I fully expect the lake to drop a few feet before June arrives. As of today, we’re about 11 feet lower than where we were last year, and about 14 feet below full pool.