CATCH MORE FROM FIGHT WEEK
• Photo gallery
• Audio slideshow
CALHOUN, Ga. — A water planner from Atlanta on Wednesday discussed a new plan with other North Georgia water officials that would strengthen conservation and build reservoirs in the metro area but leave most northern streams alone.
Matthew Harper, senior principal with the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, told the Coosa-North Georgia Water Planning Council that the Atlanta area cannot meet its future water demands without “aggressive water conservation.”
He also announced the district was looking into the building of six new reservoirs — all of them inside the metro area. The district’s plan calls for two reservoirs in Fulton County with more reservoirs in Paulding, Hall and Henry counties and one in the Gainesville area, Mr. Harper said.
The plan is a change in direction from state and Atlanta leaders. Other plans had called for reservoirs across the northern third of the state, piping Tennessee River water south or even desalinated ocean water in from coastal Georgia.
During the meeting council member Dr. Jerry Jennings raised the question as to where the reservoirs would go, assuming they would be built in North Georgia.