Atlanta Water Shortage

Last week the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran an article on the creation of 10 new water councils all throughout the state. Each council will be made up of “farmers, government officials, businessmen and others” and will be tasked with determining how to divide rivers, lakes and underground aquifers.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, responsible for more than half the appointments, said in a statement that those chosen are “a diverse group of Georgians” who will “focus on water resource issues while also addressing the state’s economic needs.”

But leaders of the Georgia Water Coalition, a statewide group of environmental and civic organizations that advocates for clean water, immediately criticized the absence of environmentalists among the appointees.

Only one of the state’s eight Riverkeepers, Satilla Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers, was named to a council. Rogers will serve on the Suwanne-Satilla regional council in southeast Georgia.

To read the entire article click HERE.

I was reading the Wall Street Journal on my flight into Atlanta late Tuesday night to visit relatives and saw that Georgia had made the front page of the WSJ. The article talks about Sonny Perdue’s $19 million dollar plan to make the state one of the most popular fishing destinations in the country.

The administration recently began construction on a $14 million dollar “Go Fish Georgia Center,” featuring a fish hatchery, visitor’s center, and public fishing ponds about 12 miles from Mr. Perdue’s hometown of Bonaire. The 15,000 square-foot building will feature interactive exhibits, including fishing simulators where visitors in a fake boat can struggle against computer controlled fish.

This sounds like quite a controversial plan given the timing of this - seems to me that it would take quite a bit for Georgia to become the fishing capital of the US. Perdue is quoted as saying that, “even if lakes stay low that will make it easier to get the fish.” Sonny also told reporters, “Would you rather catch a big fish in your bathtub, or in your swimming pool?”