Fresh Loaf

1. Mayor’s rebuttal of Atlanta crime rankings misleading and incomplete (How’s that for a thorough headline! No wonder this post was so popular.)

2. Suspected Holocaust museum shooter identified as Holocaust denier James Von Brunn (Octogenarian authored idiotic prose, including the book, Kill The Best Gentiles!)

3. Ga. drought ‘is over,’ water restrictions eased (Environmentalists hope residents will continue conserving water. Unfortunately, Georgians have very short memories.)

4. Atlanta schools, ADA strike deal over TAD funds (Atlanta Development Authority will return $18 million to the cash-strapped school system.)

5. Buckhead coalition pushing for end to Ga. 400 toll (Two-decade-old promise vowed to shut down the cash-cow toll booth in 2011.)

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State climatologist David Stooksbury says North Georgia’s drought is over except for lakes Lanier and Hartwell.

From Access North Georgia:

“Though relief has come, long-term rainfall deficits are still a concern. Small and medium reservoirs are full. The major exceptions are Lake Lanier and the Savannah River Valley reservoirs Hartwell, Russell and Clarks Hill.”

I saw Hartwell yesterday. It looks awful, though not quite as awful as Access North Georgia’s “drought” infographic suggests.

Before you ask, local water-use restrictions remain in effect for four months after a drought has ended. This means the people who make their living selling “Save Water: Shower Together” thongs to Georgians have until August to think-up replacement eco-sexual undergarment designs.

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Number of tornado warnings issued last Tuesday in metro Atlanta because of Tropical Storm Fay: 5

Gallons of rain the tempest added to Lake Lanier, the metro area’s main source of drinking water: 22 billion

Number of days that additional water can last metro Atlanta: 50

Inches Lake Lanier rose last Monday and Tuesday thanks to the storm: 30

Number of feet the lake is still below full level: 15

Average number of gallons released daily from Lake Lanier this month: 1.2 billion

Number of years since the lake’s level has been that low: 52

Gallons that could be saved if pre-1993 metro Atlanta homes replaced their antiquated plumbing fixtures: 183 million

Percentage of respondents in a recent poll who said they were less concerned about the drought this year than they were in 2007: 48

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rasmussen Reports, Metropolitan North Georgia Water District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Were you anticipating a giant man-made hole near you sometime soon? Thanks to that pesky economy thing, you’re going to have to wait.

From the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority:

As you may be aware, due to the recent economic downturn affecting the U.S. economy, the state of Georgia is facing a sharp decline in revenue. In consultation with the leadership in the Georgia General Assembly, Governor Sonny Perdue is reallocating funding to safeguard essential government services and programs. Accordingly, in order to keep all options open as the state develops a funding plan for the budget shortfall, the Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) instructed the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) to suspend the Georgia Water Supply Competitive Grant Program funded through an Amended Fiscal Year 2008 appropriation of $40 million. OPB also notified GEFA to suspend distribution of the Fiscal Year 2009 allocation of $10 million in grant funding for the Georgia Land Conservation Program (GLCP).

The agency says it’ll work with current and future grant applicants to find alternate funding sources. It’ll also continue to offer its low-interest loan program for local water supply projects. Click here to download the full announcement or read it after the jump.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

(more…)

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Don’t get all primed to start watering your lawn and washing your car and turning on those yard fountains just yet.

While there’s a feeling we’re out of the danger zone with water, an official with the Army Corps of Engineers told a group in Dawsonville yesterday that Lake Lanier could drop six feet by September if we have the dry summer that everyone is predicting.

According to a story in the Gwinnett Daily Post, the water manager told the Lake Lanier Association that the lake level is expected to drop this summer — the only issue is by how much. That, of course, did not make the Lake Lanier residents very happy.

But Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel also gave one of the most succinct, no bullshit statements about the region’s water crisis that we’ve heard:

I feel your pain. Look at how fast the population is growing. We can’t keep leaning on the same system and quadruple the population.”

Anyone in state government paying attention?

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