Water cutbacks at Georgia Aquarium

[Browntggrr]

EDIT: Whoops! I meant that 116 MILLION gallons of water have been used in just over 2 years.

I suppose using only 116 gallons in two years would be a miracle.

Now back to the REAL story:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14442543/detail.html

Even though the cutbacks appear to be motivated by the aquarium itself, just having to have cutbacks can't be a good thing.

[WooferBearATL]

I don't think people realize just how bad our drought is in Georgia. We're under a variety of water restrictions and are told that there is only 80 days of drinking water left in Metro Atlanta. We're required by the Army Corp of Engineers to release millions of gallons of water each day to both Alabama and Florida. The kick there is that Alabama and Florida are not even under lawn watering restrictions. I tell ya everyone in Metro Atlanta sleeps better at night knowing that those in Florida and Alabama can still wash their cars and water their grass, even though we may not even be able to use our water taps in the next three months.

[flightoffear1996]

Can't they just ship bottled water from some where else?

[The Interpreter]

For that many people for ALL uses, from washing dishes to bathing to washing clothes to drinking? Not to mention commercial uses. Not very practical, not to mention almost certainly cost prohibitive. . .

[coasterville]

Althought the bottled water idea can be part of a larger solution. I thought I heard where some restaurant chains are starting to use bottled water in place of the tap water they would usually serve, as a way to reduce water usage on the local systems.

Unfortunately, in this case I don't think all the usual water conservation tactics are going to do the trick, though they surely can't hurt.

Even if instead of bottled water, you started brinign in water from other cities in tanker trucks to refill the water works reserviors, can you bring it in fast enough to keep up with demand? And if the entire region is affected, from how far away would you have to source that water. Again you get back to the practicality. Both finding enough trucks/drivers to run the water brigade, and being able to do so at a cost that people can live with.

It's a tricky problem, it will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

And it sounds like, going off the base post, that Atlanta is supplying parts of Flroida and Alabama, well when Atlantas supply runs out, its not going to be just Atlanta hurting, its also going to be all the cities that get served by Atlanta. It seems irresponsible to me, that those downstream (as it were) cities aren't putting any water conservation ordinances in effect, I mean if you know your cheif supplier may run out, it would seem to be in their best interest to stockpile their own supplies, or just using less overall, which would help the common supply last longer.

I haven't really been following this issue, but is this a short term problem where there is an end in sight, or more long-term?

[WooferBearATL]

We first filed suit against Alabama and the Army Corp of Engineers in June of 2006 saying that Lake Altoona and Lake Lanier were going dry if they continued to release so much water.

The courts found for the Army Corp saying that it would not reach this point.

Well, it has reached this point.

[Gordon Bombay]

Don't mussels or something like that have something to do with this?

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Drought_in_so...l_10272007.html

[tubaman]

I remember seeing soemthing on national news about this a couple days ago. The endangered mussels had something to do with it, yes. There are some times, when people, should probably come before mussels...

I'm glad that I live in a place with plenty of water to go around, for now.

[The Interpreter]

From pools to porta-potties, Georgia conserves water:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...0442/-1/LOCAL17

[The Interpreter]

Drought HELPING Georgia Pecan Crop:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gtAAOBx...Qds0oQD8SMSFR00