No Backup Plan in Atlanta Drought

This is pretty bad when a city has no backup plan if their reservoirs run dry. I can't imagine what will happen if Atlanta does go dry. The economic impact would be horrific. I have read before that Atlanta over the past few years has been well under their needed rainfalls, but not to the levels they are currently at. If there isn't enough rain and it does go dry in the next three months, what would a city of that magnitude do in a case like this? Maybe ship water in by railroad?

 

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They could always provide a case study for the situation that will face the world in general within fifty years. It's a tough sacrifice, but someone has to make it.

 

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True, yet with such crisis happening now and in the future, we still continue to grown the world's population with fewer and fewer resources available!

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They could have done, what myself and many others suggested many times through the years, have limited growth and strict zoning so that there's no overcrowding. But no, the politicians through the years just keep allowing for more development with more and more people per square mile. Taller high rises and condos and closer building to let more buildings sit side by side with no easement between them. So many problems come from improper planning in the building areas that now they have to many people drinking or using their water supply that they cannot keep up with that high demand and now suffer what they brought on themselves.

I don't feel sorry at all for they now are crying for help when they should have been planning all along. Thank the politicians for their greedy ways and the developers for paying them off to allow for uncontrolled growth.

 

I read somewhere that of the amount of water used daily in that area, 80+ percent is used by industry and energy generation. Around 10% is used by people.

This document indicates just the food service industry creates 18.8 BILLION gallons of waste water yearly in Georgia.

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/32/31507.pdf

 

Isn't Atlanta the headquarters for Coca-Cola? I wonder how much water they use...

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One backup plan has been proposed and may well be used. Drilling wells into the HUGE aquifier that begins around 450 feet down. A dozen large wells could be drilled in a single week, pumps and other needed equipment installed in under two weeks. There are already several medium-sized cities in that part of Georgia that use such wells as their ONLY source of municipal water. The only difference would the actual number of wells required for the greater Alanta Metro area.

 

I thought the back up plan was rain.

 

And that too will run dry in due time.

 

It probably would take a hundred years or so to do that. Meanwhile, there STILL is water going into the lake with each period of rain and the demands on it would be greatly dimished. Besides, there's no reason to suppose that normal rainfall patterns (usually VERY high in Northeast Georgia - the average running between 58 and 78 inches per year) won't return to normal at some point.

 

That's a very limited resource, but better than nothing I guess.

 

Couple of links regarding ground water:

http://coastgis.marsci.uga.edu/summit/aquifers.htm

There seems to be an ongoing debate on the reliablity of the ground water around Atlanta:

http://www.engr.uga.edu/service/extension/publications/b1096-cd.html

 

But there's always going to be more and more people and businesses that will be locating there. That will only draw more water and it will be very soon that there won't be any wells that will be full. They will all eventually dry up and cave in.

 

Those are both good links - thanks, Milkweed. Hopefully, the people involved in making a decision on the well proposal have access to the same information. Gathering facts isn't always something that politicians do best but there should be at least a few intelligent individuals involved.

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No, silly - they WON'T cave in! Your lack of knowledge about the geology of the entire region is showing. We're taking about rock (primarily granites and various sandstones - NOT underground lakes or huge limestone deposits).

 

According to some scientists, this is the future:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21water-t.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/n...a772241915da44&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

It's the liberal's fault.

 

Yes, that's probably accurate, Sam, and a valid reason for concern. However, it has nothing to do with the topic under discussion.

 

I always thought reservoirs were fed by rainfall and snowmelt; and evaporation caused their levels to fall :shrug:

 

I doubt any major cities in the nation, or that world for that matter, have any "backup" plans in case of major drought in the region. Atlanta has had plenty of water for 200 years and have had no problems. With this current drought, the problem has no become apparent. But what feasible "backup plan" could there be?

Las Vegas, Nevada is now in dire straits concerning fresh water. What backup plan could they possibly have other than to get water from somewhere where there's abundant water. Well, golly, where's that exactly?

Ship water in by train??? Do you have any grasp of how much water Atlanta uses in a day? ...LOL!

Baron Max