Fresh Loaf

Sally Bethea

In addition to crime, finances and transportation, Atlanta’s next mayor has a sizable task on his or her to-do list: continue fixing the city’s antiquated sewer system. Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattachoochee Riverkeeper, reminds the candidates not to lose sight of the estimated $4.1 billion project.

Eight short years ago, Atlanta’s aging sewer system was a disgrace to its citizens and to the state of Georgia. It was also illegal.

When the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper sued the city of Atlanta in 1995 for violations of the Clean Water Act, hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage were routinely dumped into our streams and the river.

Although a federal judge ruled that the city had to clean up its act, then Mayor Bill Campbell did little but stall, leaving it to the next mayor to solve the problem, even while the judge threatened a moratorium on new development because Atlanta did not have the sewage infrastructure to support such development.

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Yes, the Chattahoochee will appear a little extra brown in the near future, as city officials have been given no choice but to dump dookie and minimally treated wastewater into the river.

Atlanta Department of Watershed Management Commissioner Rob Hunter this morning told reporters that serious flooding has shut down the city’s R.M. Clayton wastewater treatment plant in Northwest Atlanta and forced the department to dump raw sewage into the river.

The plant, which Hunter said is the largest in the Southeast, has sustained damages in the “tens of millions of dollars.” On an average day, it can treat 180 million gallons of poop-tinged liquid. As the AJC notes, it’s part of the city’s controversial combined sewage overflow project.

“It’s not imperiling or causing a problem for any drinking water supplies, but people need to minimize contact with the Chattahoochee River and all flood waters,” Hunter said. The city has already lined up contractors to make repairs and made first steps to qualify for federal assistance. But until the R.M. Clayton plant is back up and running, more sewage will be discharged into the river.

Sally Bethea of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper says the sewage discharge’s long-term impact on the waterway depends on when watershed officials fix R.M. Clayton — and how long the flooding continues.

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For months, eco-minded advocates and Atlanta’s real estate and development industries have locked horns over the city’s proposed green building ordinance.

But last Tuesday, city councilmembers gave both sides a Sept. 29 deadline to strike a compromise over the ordinance that supporters say could help Atlanta meet carbon reduction footprint goals, reduce wasteful consumption of energy and water, and become one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the nation.

The ordinance, which would cover all new construction except low-rise residential, has been in the works since June 2008. Put simply, it’s a helluva bill that encourages less water and energy use and encourages buildings designed to save energy. Sustainable Atlanta, the nonprofit group that’s been tasked with drafting the complicated legislation, tweaked and modified the provisions after Atlanta’s real estate and development community raised concerns.

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After noticeably excluding them from his July 23 closed-door meeting with business bigwigs and local and state government officials, Gov. Sonny Perdue will reach out to some of the state’s leading environmental advocates tomorrow to discuss Georgia’s water woes.

Perdue’s invited approximately 10 environmental advocates, including the executive directors of such organizations as the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Georgia Conservation Voters and the Georgia Wildlife Federation, to join him in his office at 10 a.m.

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Number of years since Buford Dam began operations on the Chattahoochee River, creating Lake Lanier: 53

Number of years since Alabama filed the lawsuit that began the “tri-state water wars”: 19

Daily volume of water Atlanta withdraws from the Chattahoochee, in million of gallons: 180

Daily volume of water Gwinnett County withdraws from Lake Lanier, in million of gallons: 150

Duration of metro Atlanta’s most recent drought, in years: 3

Time between official end of drought and state’s lifting of water restrictions, in months: 2.4

Year that Atlanta’s water demands are projected to exceed river capacity: 2030

Daily per capita indoor water consumption in metro Atlanta, in gallons: 69

Daily per capita indoor water consumption for a water-conserving home, in gallons: 50

Sources: Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, AJC.com

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State Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch announced today that Georgia’s drought — the headline-grabbing phenomenon that forced Georgians to take shorter showers and watch our lawns turn brown — was officially over.

That also means the watering restrictions, which irked lawn-doting residents and hamstrung metro Atlanta’s landscaping industry, have been eased. (Here’s Georgia’s new outdoor watering schedule.)

Couch said she hopes residents — who surpassed Gov. Sonny Perdue’s 10 percent conservation goal — will continue using less water. But Georgians have very short memories.

Keep in mind that a drought can — and will — happen again. And Georgia lawmakers, who were quick to jump on the crisis but hard pressed to create actual reforms, squandered several opportunities to make the state better prepared when the next one arrives.

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On March 4 and 5, the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival returns to Atlanta’s Tara Theater. Presented by the Georgia River Network, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and Georgia ForestWatch, the largest environmental film festival in North America offers six or seven films each night about our planet, with at least one tied to a local issue.

Included in the event’s line-up are films about the destructive process of mining coal by blasting mountain tops, world-class kayakers making a final trek down endangered rivers around the world, and a California family’s 20-year affair with urban farming. Local films include a retelling of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s 1995 legal battle with the City of Atlanta to overhaul its antiquated sewer system and a paddler’s trek along the metro region’s most vital waterway. For a list of the movies, download this document.

Advance tickets are on sale for $10 at the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s site. Leftover tickets will be on sale at the door. Shows start at 7 p.m. Purchase tickets for both nights and you get a discounted rate for March 23’s Banff Mountain Film Festival at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Performing Arts.

(Photo courtesy of the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival)

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Charles Bethea, a former CL intern, has a piece in this week’s New Yorker about a Norcross man who created a Barack Obama Gmail account on a whim and has since been inundated with criticisms, compliments and Russian spam mail addressed to the Presidential hopeful. Go here to check it out.

Bethea is an associate editor at Outside’s Go. He’s also the son of Sally Bethea, executive director of the Atlanta-based Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

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Tonight and tomorrow at the Regal Tara Cinema, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Georgia ForestWatch and the Georgia River Network host the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, a four-hour showcase of movies and documentaries celebrating environmental activism and the efforts of those trying to preserve Mother Nature. The two-night event is the Atlanta stop of a national festival tour.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and films run from 7-9 p.m. Advanced ticketing is closed, but tickets will be available when the box office opens at 6 p.m.

For a program schedule, click here.

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