Atlanta May Not Become Waterless Wasteland After All
Decatur Metro | March 10, 2011
Some good news for all water-based lifeforms in the Atlanta area (that’s you!)…
A panel of judges on Wednesday appeared poised to hand Georgia a victory in the tri-state water case by sending back a ruling that could have catastrophic consequences for the metro region.
Such a victory would include vacating a looming July 2012 deadline that says metro Atlanta would get only a fraction of the water it is now getting from Lake Lanier if Georgia, Alabama and Florida cannot negotiate a water-sharing agreement by then.
During oral arguments, three judges for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared inclined to settle the issue by sending the case back to the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates Buford Dam. It would then be up to the corps to figure out how much water from the man-made reservoir can be used to meet metro Atlanta’s needs.
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But when is someone going to do something about all the sewage spills??
Good question.
Our drinking water resevoir doubles as a sewage polishing pond for Gwinnett. What could possibly go wrong?
“…waste-water treatment plant that began operation last year in Gwinnett and which is returning 40 million gallons of water to the lake every day.”
You know the old joke in water use? “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that in the future we’ll all be drinking treated sewage. The bad news is there won’t be enough to go around.”
Most places, we’re already at the “drinking treated sewage” part, it’s just a matter of how direct the link is between a sewage outfall and the next water intake downstream.
Nancy is exactly right. And the 40mgd from Gwinnett going into the lake is very, very highly treated and filtered. For many parameters, it is actually “cleaner” than some of the natural inflows feeding the lake.
I have to wonder–aside from the whole lead-thing–what the Romans thought.
If Atlanta prevails with this case, the metro areas sprawl can continue unabated. How can this possibly ever be considered good news. Georgia and Metro Atlanta have displayed nothing but bad faith and poor planning on top of unwillingness to conserve and treat water adequately. Atlanta may win this case ultimately, but it sure doesn’t deserve to win.