Water hits boiling point

CALHOUN, Ga. -- What two decades of warnings from environmentalists couldn't do, three years of dry weather, news coverage showing dry moonscapes where lakes should be and the very real possibility of running out of water finally did.

Water has become one of Georgia's biggest issues.

"The drought kind of highlighted the precarious nature of our area's water supply," said Coosa River Basin Initiative Executive Director Joe Cook. "It scares folks."

Dry conditions beginning in 2006 grew into one of the Southeast's worst droughts on record in 2007 and 2008. During the height of the drought, Atlanta had less than a 90-day supply of water. Boats were grounded and floating docks sat on dry land. In some cases, water utilities had to buy water from other areas to supply customers.

Though a wet 2009 and 2010 have returned lakes to their normal levels, the issue hasn't gone away.

In July 2009, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that Atlanta and many other metro area municipalities did not have the right to draw water out of Lake Lanier, the city's main water supply. The ruling gave the city three years to explore other options before the valve was shut off for most withdrawals from the lake.

Water officials say Atlanta's water issue is everybody's issue.

"The state's tied to Atlanta," said Dalton Utilities CEO Don Cope, a member of the Coosa-North Georgia Water Planning Council. "Anybody who does anything detrimental to it is hurting the whole state and the whole region."

Last week, the state asked a federal appeals court to grant metro utilities access to Lake Lanier, saying the results would be "devastating" if the judge's decision stands.

Dr. Becky Champion, assistant branch chief for the Environmental Protection Division's Watershed Protection Branch, said the judge's decision was a major blow in the ongoing water wars between Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

The states have been embroiled in a decades-long battle over how much water Georgia can withdraw and how much wastewater it can discharge into the Chattahoochee, Coosa, Tallapoosa and other rivers that flow into neighboring states.

The judge's ruling brought the water issue to the boiling point, she said.

"We've been at this for 20 years," Dr. Champion said. "All of a sudden there is a cold, hard line drawn in the sand."

Looking for solutions

To meet the problem, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue created regional water planning councils, including the Coosa-North Georgia Water Planning Council and the Georgia Water Contingency Task Force.

The planning councils, which are about halfway through their duties, are made up of elected officials, utility managers and residents and are charged with developing regional water plans that will be strung together to create Georgia's first long-range water plan going through 2050.

The contingency task force, consisting of about 80 business leaders and other officials, already has delivered its report to the governor. The report calls for conservation, enlarging four reservoirs and building a new lake in Paulding County.

Other solutions proposed by different groups have included building new reservoirs across the northern part of the state, pumping Tennessee River water south and desalinating ocean water near Savannah.

Most of these have been met with opposition from many stakeholders in North Georgia, who have kept a wary eye out for advances from the capital.

Mr. Cook and other environmental groups have spoken out against moving water from one river basin to another -- a process known as interbasin transfers. The metro Atlanta area already withdraws water from the Etowah River and Lake Alatoona and discharges it into the Chattahoochee. Such a practice can impact river levels and ultimately make it tougher to reach minimum flow requirements that Alabama requires when the streams cross the state line.

"That's a concern for everybody in Northwest Georgia," Mr. Cook said.

Demand going up

Areas of the state outside of metro Atlanta have benefited from the studies, according to Dr. Champion.

"As we work through this process, we're getting a better handle on the rest of the state," she explained.

For instance, as part of an attempt to create the state's first water plan, the Coosa-North Georgia Water Planning Council has developed water-use forecasts that chart growth in the region over the next 40 years.

Residential, commercial and light industrial water use in the 18-county North Georgia Water Council is expected to climb from 103 million gallons per day currently to 144 million in 2030 and 193 million in 2050, based on the council's projection.

The population is forecast to grow from 10 million people now in the area to 14 million by 2030.

But despite the projected growth, the quantity of water in North Georgia is not nearly as big of a concern for Dr. Champion as the water's quality. She said the region's streams have several spots where excess nutrients in runoff from poultry farms and other operations have contributed to algae blooms that cut down on the creeks' and rivers' dissolved oxygen levels. Lower oxygen in the water is a danger to fish and other wildlife in it.

"(Quantity) is not going to be the issue here in Northwest Georgia," said Dr. Jerry Jennings, chairman of the Northwest Georgia Regional Water Resources Partnership's executive committee. "Water quality is a huge issue here."

Water usage

* 103 million gallons per day: Current residential, commercial and light industrial water use in the 18-county North Georgia Water Council

* 144 million gallons per day projected for area in 2030

* 193 million gallons per day projected for area in 2050

* 40-65 million gallons per day withdrawals for Chattanooga

* 500 million gallons average per day for Atlanta metro area in 2000

Sources: Tennessee American Water; Coosa-North Georgia Water Planning Council; Etowah Water Bank