The rain Monday helped lawns and gardens – a little, but didn’t wet the soil under trees.
Of course we shouldn’t be concerned since Governor Sonny Perdue and EPD Director Carol Couch announced on June 10 “drought over.” Couch went so far as to refer to the drought in the past tense – “We have just lived through one of the worst droughts in Georgia history.”
Apparently neither the governor nor EPD director watch horror movies or they would know the monster always comes back.
A better phrase from the officials would have stated that we have returned to normal rainfall or that we are getting a respite from the drought – “AT THE MOMENT.”
In May, the state climatologist announced Georgia was “drought free” except for the Hartwell and Lanier basins, which were still considered in mild drought due to lingering low lake levels.
Before we turn on all the hoses, remember that, as this newspaper has opined on numerous occasions, the thing about a drought is you can never tell when it’s the third year of a 50-year dry period or truly the last year of the drought.
This is the case here as well. We simply don’t know if the drought is taking a quick breather, gone on extended holiday or has ended for a generation. And we surely can’t state with any certainty that the winter/spring of 2009 won’t be a short lived wet period during a larger drought.
The state’s easing of the watering ban for the moment is sensible, allowing more normal outdoor water use. There is water, and people should be able to water outdoors on the odd-even.
What we strongly object to are the statements based on an assumption that the drought is over and we have somehow won, so there is no longer a need for water planning or conservation.
Even if we receive above average rainfall for the next ten years, Georgia will continue to need solid water planning.
As the executive director of Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said during a talk here this spring, Georgia may not have a drought crisis any longer, but we will continue to have a water crisis.
Atlanta is one of the largest metropolitan areas in America and is served by one of the smallest water sources. Remember the big city down the road relies primarily on the small Chattahoochee for its drinking supply, and Alabama and Florida both claim some of the same flow.
Even with rain falling, the limited watershed here doesn’t offer much reassurance that the region will be able to handle the needs of a growing population without water planning and conservation as standard procedure – not something special implemented when the corn withers.
During her talk here, Riverkeeper Sally Bethea noted that Boston made a tremendous effort in the late 1980s to be water efficient. In Boston they estimated it would cost $500 million to build reservoirs needed for the growth they were projecting. By spending $40 million on conservation measures instead, the northern city was able to meet the same needs.
Atlanta politicians still favor reservoirs – possibly due to the lucrative contracts for developers associated with them.
Through simple common-sense measures such as fixing leaks in water lines, retrofitting outdated plumbing, and tighter outdoor watering bans, Bostonians cut their usage in 1987 to the same amount of water the city used in 1911.
This is the type of leadership and planning needed in Atlanta and North Georgia, regardless of whether homeowners are unclogging gutters or hauling out lawn sprinklers.
Georgia, under Perdue, made a good start at conservation during the drought. The state managed to implement new programs and regulations that resulted in a 15 percent drop in water use statewide in the past two years.
Now rather than throwing the drought playbook into the stack with the Y2K preparation manuals, Georgia should make water conservation a way of life.
Figuring out what to do once your well runs dry produces emergency measures that are drastic, expensive and unpopular. But right now we have an opportunity Georgia rarely has seen: an opportunity to plan ahead. |
|
