Atlanta's water problems and the blame game
Following up on Atlanta's water problems. A brief recap--Lake Lanier, the primary water source for most of the Atlanta metro area has only 2-4 months of water left at current outflow rates. Drought conditions prevent the lake from refilling.
Citizens blame the state for failing to anticipate the effects of rapid growth. The state blames the Army Corp of engineers for refusing to reduce outflow rates. The Corp blames the Endangered Species Act for requiring adequate flow for protected habitats downstream in Florida and Alabama. Environmentalists blame the state for failing to prepare and the state blames...are you ready for this..a below average hurricane season.
State officials have said they were unprepared for the severity of the drought, compounded by scorching heat and a drier-than-normal hurricane season. As the drought worsened, Georgia politicians claimed the Corps' stubborn agenda intensified the water shortage.
Hmmm...maybe we need to encourage climate change to increase hurricane intensity and frequency to alleviate water shortages. Sorry, couldn't resist.
*The picture was 'borrowed' from colleghumor.com.
Is there some way we can blame this on Dr. Gray?
May 31, 2007
Posted by: John Whitehead | October 18, 2007 at 11:19 AM
lets see we have like 3-4 government agencies pointing fingers at each other....
Is it safe to say this is a government failure and its time for a free market solution?
maybe we need to encourage climate change to increase hurricane intensity and frequency to alleviate water shortages.
Maybe, Tim, rather then using Al Gore's movie as your scientific reference to climate change and hurricane frequency you should look at the consensus which is ambiguous as to whether a hotter world increases hurricane frequency?
Posted by: joshua corning | October 18, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Joshua,
It was a joke.
Posted by: Tim Haab | October 18, 2007 at 02:09 PM
The USGCRP, UCS, the IPCC (2007), and NOAA suggest a possible relationship between AGW/hurricanes. Of course science must always be subject to peer review/updating.
Joshua, pray tell, what movie is your scientific reference contradicting this relationship? Is Halliburton your proposed FREE market solution?
Posted by: Charlie B | October 18, 2007 at 02:15 PM
Amusing that you know enough to pretend it is about hurricane "frequency" there Joshua. You know, as opposed to hurricane "intensity."
(I don't think either is a done-deal in the science, but there are good arguments for increased intensity. See also, NOAA on that)
Posted by: odograph | October 18, 2007 at 02:23 PM
Amusing that you know enough to pretend it is about hurricane "frequency" there Joshua. You know, as opposed to hurricane "intensity.
Tim's statment implied frequency so I used frequency. The effects of global warming on Hurricane intensity are also ambiguous.
But it is good that you don't know if its a done deal because it is not a done deal...sadly Gore has chosen to make a film that assumes it is a done deal and uses this unsubstantiated claim to scare the bajezus out of people.
Posted by: joshua corning | October 18, 2007 at 07:59 PM
There's 3 good things happening:
We get to see how valuable our resources are.
We are reviewing how we manage our water, and why someone else is in control of our water flow, I don't know.
We get to take responsibility for your own actions to conserve water.
And someone will make some money with this shortage and hopefully it wont be the government.
Posted by: Jack | October 19, 2007 at 07:49 AM
The reason for this problem is that so many people flocked to Atlanta to try to get high paying jobs. What a joke that is. They made the cost of living go through the roof and traffic is a nightmare. They ruined Atlanta! I was born and raised in Atlanta and it makes me sick. We totally lost a sense of community and hardly anybody who lives here is from here. You can't let a city grow so rapidly without any sense of control. Everyone just built and built those crappy houses all over Atlanta and never thought about people that lived there would have to use the resources. I say "Now everybody go back to where you are from and drink that water!"
Posted by: susan | November 02, 2007 at 09:59 PM
Bad planning, ignoring the obvious, government in general. Atlanta isn't any different than most areas of the southeast or the rest of the country for that matter.
It is just a matter of time before "something" brings the aforementioned problems to the front in many areas of the country.
As for Global Warming, it may be true that it is happening and if so, I think there is probably a consensus that it is happening.
The question is whether or not "we" have had any real effect on it and if not, is there really anything we can do to make any effective change in it? This question is still in dispute and many reputable scientists are arguing the point that we have very little control over it, so, it is really just a political device and not a truly scientific issue.
Al Gore has annointed himself as the figurehead", of the GW movement, need I say more?
Posted by: Kerry | November 14, 2007 at 12:22 AM
As a homeowner from the dry state of Colorado where we have had to conserve water and have lawyers divide it up; and as a do-it-your-selfer with innovative ideas, I have an implementable one that could save Atlanta some 5 million gallons a day, spur both local farming and industry, and produce a valuable bi-product. If you consider this worth getting back to me on...do.
Posted by: Jim McKelvey | March 05, 2008 at 04:45 PM