I'm in the process of moving my office across the hall. The new office is slightly bigger and has a seasonal view of the two most important buildings on campus: Value City Arena and Ohio Stadium. Right now, the only thing in my new office is my phone--literally sitting on the floor. So a couple times a day I go across the hall to check my messages.
Imagine my mild surprise yesterday when I had a message from a reporter in Atlanta wanting to talk to me about the southeast U.S. drought and resulting water shortages. I couldn't figure out why anyone in Atlanta would think I know anything about Atlanta water conditions until I remembered I wrote about it here last Friday. I guess that makes me an expert...and experts get interviewed...
Being the glory whore that I am, I called him back. The reporter was looking for someone to comment on the potential economic impacts of water bans. I assured him that I know next to nothing about water bans or the Atlanta area, short of getting really drunk there a few times. But that didn't stop him from asking questions, or me from answering them.
Most of the conversation focused on me reiterating the Army Corps stance that their hands are tied on water release from Lake Lanier by the Endangered Species act and then me encouraging the reporter to contact someone in the Western U.S. who would be more familiar with water ban issues--a punt.
The conversation went on for 20 minutes or so. At some point--while again encouraging the reporter to contact someone who knows more about water shortage economics than me--I said something to the effect of it being my understanding that the Army Corp typically builds large capacity reservoir projects in the West to allow for frequent drought conditions, while in the East, reservoir projects are smaller because droughts are less frequent. So can you guess what was reported today in the Atlanta Journal Constitution?
Through Atlanta's sometimes spectacular growth, lack of resources has rarely been a hindrance. Yet many cities in the West have also grown despite nearly constant drought conditions.
Through necessity, those places have been better prepared than wetter areas like Atlanta in the East, said Tim Haab, professor of environmental economics at Ohio State University.
"In the West, they plan Corps projects that have excess capacity," he said. "In Atlanta, because you don't typically have perpetual drought, Lake Lanier was planned to handle a normal year, not a drought year. When a drought comes along, Lake Lanier doesn't have the extra capacity needed."
Sounds smart. Is it right?
