A Northeast Georgia Perspective on Atlanta's Water Dilemma

[Howard Roark]

A Northeast Georgia Perspective on Atlanta's Water Dilemma

Senator Jim Butterworth

Senate Press Office

CLARKESVILLE (Dec. 3, 2009) – Senator Jim Butterworth
The future of Atlanta’s water supply has once again turned the focus to Northeast Georgia. The Governor’s Water Contingency Task Force recently viewed a presentation which offered several scenarios to close the 350 million gallon per day (MGD) shortfall. As any Atlantan knows, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has passed down a self-professed “draconian” ruling that Atlanta has no right to draw water from Lake Lanier. While there are no easy answers, when it comes to Northeast Georgia water, the Governor’s task force should be more about the “task” and less about the “force”.

Water is the life blood of any thriving community. If a populace is to survive and grow, there must be an ample supply of available water. Plans for providing this natural resource must take place decades before industry is recruited or a housing development is envisioned. For Northeast Georgia, that plan does not include losing 150 million gallons of this precious natural resource every day to Atlanta.

Among the concerns associated with the proposals are inter-basin transfers of raw water. One instance seeks 50 MGD from Lake Burton and the other seeks 100 MGD from Lake Hartwell. These transfers of raw water are illegal in Georgia. Their merits have been debated at length over the years, and some requests have been accommodated, the current proposal far exceeds anything considered reasonable by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

Lake Burton’s inter-basin transfer specifically calls for water to flow through an existing river, the Soque River, which flows into the Chattahoochee River. In order to accommodate Judge Magnuson’s ruling, it must then be transferred to a holding reservoir before it actually reaches Lake Lanier. The desperation of this proposal appears to be a quick reaction to the ruling. In digging deeper into the reality of this proposal, it becomes even more difficult to comprehend.

Lake Burton is an energy producing Georgia Power lake. It is used for the same purpose three more times as it passes through Lakes Seed, Rabun and Tugaloo. If 50 MGD is drawn out of Lake Burton for drinking water, it can’t be used to generate electricity. The decision does not ultimately lie with convincing Georgia Power that the water would be better used for drinking water. The ultimate decision lies with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). While serving as Chairman of the Habersham County Board of Commissioners, I was personally told that this process would take years to get approval essentially because the lake was never intended to be a source for drinking water. Sound familiar?

The last time Northeast Georgia counties tried to gain access to water from the Savannah River basin, the South Carolina legislature got involved. It seems they also envision themselves as part owner of that water which creates yet another dilemma. We’ll add another state to the list that will take issue over “Atlanta’s water”.

Where do we go from here? In reality it’s anyone’s guess. The Governor’s office has a multi-pronged plan of attack executed on 4 fronts. Litigation is one front that should be pursued aggressively. At the risk of overstating the obvious, the Judge’s ruling is ridiculous.

Those of us in Northeast Georgia are not asking for a seat at that table. It’s actually quite the opposite. We apparently are the table and someone is trying to add a few more chairs. Georgia, along with the Governor’s Water Contingency Task Force, must seek to resolve Atlanta’s water problems collectively. In these trying times we can’t afford to have a divided Georgia over this valuable resource. We don’t want our solution to Atlanta’s water problems to create problems for future generations of Georgians.



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Sen. Jim Butterworth represents the 50th Senate District which includes Towns, Rabun, Habersham, Stephens, Banks, Franklin, and Hart counties along with a portion of White County. He can be reached by phone at 404.463.5257 or by email at jim.butterworth@senate.ga.gov.

[Howard Roark]

Just for full disclosure, Jim is a close personal friend whom I worked closely with to beat a sitting GOP senator. He is a former B-1 bomber pilot and has a wife and 4 kids.

Given the present condition of the state capitol many are cynical about all who serve in government.

I would trust Jim with the care of my families safety and my personal finances if I were unable to care for them. Jim is a conservative we can build around.

[drhunter1]

With all of the rain we have had, how do we still have a water shortfall?

[Lightninrod]

Heard about this on yesterday's Glen Beck show...

[crackerdave]

We get Atlanta's "excess" water down here in Lagrange - it's purty nasty,but I haven't noticed that there's been any less of it.
Much revenue could be generated by putting a 5 cent deposit on plastic drink bottles - you could load many trucks with the ones you folks upstream send us with every heavy rain. Remember:No matter where you live,you are downstream from somebody!
I once suggested collecting all the trash and sewage that comes down from Atlanta and dropping it by helicopter in each swimming pool in Atlanta - starting with the mayor's.

I realize this is somewhat , but water quality is as important as quantity.

[Ole Fuzzy]

There is an easier solution to the water problem, and that is to cut the yankee transplants in Atlanta off. Stop all transfers from one basin to another altogether. If Gwinnett Co. decides that it needs another XX million per day for prospective development, then make Gwinnett implement the procedure to conserve that much, and once accomplished, issue the permits for consumption.

Georgia really is a state with a limited water supply; it's long past time that a bunch of elected knuckleheads in Atlanta realize it.

[Jeff Raines]

IMHO
water war is nothing but a political game.I have been a water treatment plant operator for 20 years.
15 years ago during a summer we would routinely reach our maximum withdrawl of 68 million gallons per day.Many a day were the tanks would be dry by 8AM.
This was before the big housing and building boom.Cobb County finally implemented a water restriction program and guess what,people found out their grass would still live if it wasn't watered everyday,they didn't need to wash their cars every week.
Even with the drought we haven't come close to the rates we were pumping in the mid 90's.
Inter basin transfers could be a nightmare for the lakes and the operators in charge of making your water safe to drink

[Paleo]

Remember:No matter where you live,you are downstream from somebody!

I live on the Eastern Continental divide
I'm upstream from everybody
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Continental_Divide

It's roughly the black line on this map of GA

http://www.gpsinformation.org/jack/Divide/DV.jpg

[whitworth]

Make sure that there are no illegal immigrants drinking water within 200 miles of Atlanta.

[centerc]

Originally Posted by crackerdave

We get Atlanta's "excess" water down here in Lagrange - it's purty nasty,but I haven't noticed that there's been any less of it.
Much revenue could be generated by putting a 5 cent deposit on plastic drink bottles - you could load many trucks with the ones you folks upstream send us with every heavy rain. Remember:No matter where you live,you are downstream from somebody!
I once suggested collecting all the trash and sewage that comes down from Atlanta and dropping it by helicopter in each swimming pool in Atlanta - starting with the mayor's.

I realize this is somewhat , but water quality is as important as quantity.

tHE MAYOR OF aTLANTA DONT SWIM

[Jhunt]

Originally Posted by Ole Fuzzy

If Gwinnett Co. decides that it needs another XX million per day for prospective development, then make Gwinnett implement the procedure to conserve that much, and once accomplished, issue the permits for consumption.

What good does it do to "conserve" it if it's all gonna end up in Florida? By the way, did you know Gwinnett returns nearly two-thirds of the water it withdraws, and in a cleaner state than when they withdrew it???? Anybody else do that? Also, they are already making plans to wean themselves off of Lake Lanier--to a degree.

The problem with the Governor's Task Force is it is mostly made up of business leaders and big donors, not those who actually know something about the problem. Typical gooberment, I'd say.