Atlanta Water Shortage

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.

Tiny Dade County in northwest Georgia has always been an afterthought.  They weren’t included on the state quarter, they have a sparse population, and they are essentially isolated in the corner of the state.

However, the growing fight for access to the Tennessee River is going right through Dade, because it is the Georgia county that is closest to the river.

Newsmax has a nice article that covers this whole situation pretty well.  Thanks to Gary for the link!

Lake Lanier dropped by about 1/4″ yesterday, the first drop in about 50 days (March 4 being the last).  However, with no rain forecast until at least the weekend, have we seen the peak?

Even if we have, it’s been a pretty good month.  Based on historical data, I figured the lake would hold about steady for the month of April.  Instead, it’s up nearly a foot for the month.

So, is this the peak for the spring?  Or will it climb a bit higher?  If this is the peak, what do you think the low will be in November/December when it typically hits the low point?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has until June 1 to review a new proposal that would reduce the amount of water being released from Lake Lanier by about 10%. However, some are already complaining that it’s not enough. According to Pat Stevens, the Atlanta Regional Commission’s environmental planning chief, the lake would only be about one foot higher right now if this plan had been in place back when the drought began. A foot would certainly help, but not much.

This new plan, if passed, would be in effect for about three years. They are working on a new “official” plan, and this move would simply be for the interim.

According to an article on 11Alive, Atlanta is still losing about 17 million gallons of water every day due to leaks.  In fact, Popular Mechanics considers the Atlanta water system to be one of the “10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now“.  That’s never good news, but it’s even worse when you consider the drought.

The city says that they’re repairing about 800 leaks per month, and the amount of water being wasted drops by about 1% per year.  As Janet Ward, of Atlanta Watershed Management says:

“The problem with the system that as big and as old as Atlanta’s is, you’re never going to repair the last leak.  There is always going to be another leak.”

These leaks are a bigger waste of water than the water you flush down your toilet.  As we’ve said before, water going down the drain isn’t necessarily “wasted”.  However, water that ends up in your grass (or leaking out of pipes underground) won’t be recaptured by the watershed anytime soon, if ever.

Does anyone know if the city has plans to accelerate the improvement of our water infrastructure?

Lake Allatoona is now a little above its typical summer level of 840′, sitting at 841.07′ right now.  That’s quite a turnaround, and it’s quite good.

However, Lake Lanier is still well below normal, sitting just above 1057′ (full is 1071′).

Regular readers of this blog should understand why Lanier is still so low.  For any newcomers, or anyone that doesn’t understand the problems that are unique to Lake Lanier, 11Alive has a nice article that covers some of the basics of Lanier’s problems.  It’s a good overview to check out.

The AJC has an article in today’s paper that discusses how much people have cut back to help conserve water in the metro area.  It’s a pretty good article, looking at both conversation and current restrictions. The online version doesn’t include it, but there is a chart in the paper (page C8) which I’ve included a photo of.  Does it look familiar?

I have two problems with their chart:

• It doesn’t include April data.  It was easy enough to update this chart with data from April 1st, but for some reason they didn’t do that.  March saw a pretty good rise in the lake level, and I’m guessing they felt that would hurt their story, so they left it out.
• They didn’t give us credit.  We try to always give credit to our sources, but they didn’t feel the need to do that.  Coincidence, you say?  I don’t think so.  Stacy Shelton, the author of the article, e-mailed me a few days ago and said “We loved your Lanier chart so much we stole the idea“.  I assumed “stole” was being used playfully, but I was obviously wrong.

The data obviously isn’t mine (it comes from the USACE), and the AJC recreated the graph from scratch (adding an extra year to it), but it’s still pretty weak to blatantly copy an idea like that without a bit of credit.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been upset with the AJC.  One of my first posts on this blog called into question some numbers that they apparently made up.  Despite repeated e-mails to the author of that article and some other folks at the AJC, I never heard a word from them.  I guess they were too embarrassed to admit their mistake.

Due to the almost-normal rainfall we received in March, Gwinnett County has decided to relax hand watering restrictions to match the guidelines put out by the state of Georgia.  Specifically (as posted on the LWB):

That means you can use a hose with a hand-activated nozzle to water your plants for up to 25 minutes three days per week, on an odd-even schedule. People with even numbered addresses can water on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, while people with odd numbered addressed can water on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. All watering must be done between midnight and 8 AM. Food gardens can be watered anytime, and the you are not allowed to use your 25 minute window to wash your car.

While all of north Georgia received below-normal rainfall in March, it was pretty close:

• Atlanta recorded 5.17 inches of rain, a quarter inch less than normal.
• Gainesville had 5.25 inches of rainfall, 87% of normal.
• Athens had 3.48 inches of rain, or an 1.5 inches less than normal.

The short-term forecast is looking pretty good, but we’ve still got a steep road in front of us.