Soapbox: Keeping the taps from running dry
September 17, 2009 at 12:23 pm by Thomas Wheatley in Soapbox
Joe Cook
Faced with the threat of losing most of Lake Lanier as a source of drinking water in 2012, Gov. Sonny Perdue and state lawmakers have signaled they’re willing to pursue some water-conservation measures during the next legislative session. Joe Cook, executive director and riverkeeper of the Coosa River Basin Initiative in Rome, Ga., offers politicos a laundry list of solutions.
In a federal judge’s decision earlier this summer, our state may have encountered, if you’ll pardon the pun, a watershed moment.
The judge ruled that Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River was not authorized for the purposes of water supply by Congress and therefore, Metro Atlanta communities are not entitled to the water that they’ve been taking from the lake.
He gave Georgia three years to convince Congress to change the lake’s authorized purposes. Without that authorization, some taps in the area may well go dry.
The judge dropped a ticking water bomb in the laps of Georgia leaders. The judge’s decision now forces Georgia’s to get serious about securing alternative water supplies, and it appears to be having an effect.
What else could prompt Gov. Sonny Perdue, long criticized by the state’s environmental community for his lukewarm embrace of serious water conservation measures, to invite those same critics to his chambers for a face-to-face meeting.
But, to his credit he did just that, and at the meeting, we presented to the Governor an action plan for the 2010 legislative session that if implemented will help turn our state, and especially the bulging Metro Atlanta region into a lean, mean, water efficient machine.
Since that meeting, news reports suggest that, indeed, conservation legislation maybe in the works not only among legislators, but directly from the executive branch. And, this is as it should be. Water conservation measures are the quickest and most cost-effective ways of securing additional water supplies for our state.
No reservoir proposed in 2009 will ever be built before the federal court’s grace period ends in 2012, but conservation measures can create “new sources” immediately and at great cost savings.
The most recently proposed “silver bullet reservoir” to solve Metro Atlanta’s water woes comes with a price tag of $500 million and will yield 100 million gallons a day. By comparison, a slate of five water conservation measures implemented in Metro Atlanta would create 133 million gallons a day in water savings at a cost of just $134 million.
Here’s what Georgia’s leaders need to do:
Provide state assistance and incentives for water providers to reduce leaks in water lines. Amazingly, in some older water systems, 20 percent or more of water that is pumped from our rivers never makes it to the tap.
Enact mandates and incentives for homeowners and businesses to retrofit old plumbing and appliances. During a recent Coosa River Basin Initiative-sponsored water conservation competition at East Central Elementary School in Rome, one family reduced their water use by 47 percent with the purchase of water efficient appliances and by changing their water use habits. Similar permanent water savings could be achieved statewide.
Meter all individual water users. Some apartment dwellers are forced to pay for the water their neighbors use because many complexes do not have meters for each apartment.
Studies show that when individual meters are placed on apartment units, water use declines by an estimated 15 percent.
Promote and mandate wise use of water on landscapes. This can be accomplished by metering large users of irrigation water, pricing water to encourage conservation and requiring rain sensors for all irrigation systems.
Implement these and other measures and we will not only begin securing additional water supplies immediately, we will send the right message to our neighboring states and to in-state communities like Rome and Columbus that sit downstream from Metro Atlanta. Such a message will help us defuse the ticking water bomb.
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