Water Level Drops, Panic Rises In Georgia
Power Struggle Over Remaining Water From Lake Lanier As Some Residents Dig Wells
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Panic Rising In Georgia
People are digging private wells in Atlanta as the state's drought crisis deepens, and the governor is suing the Army Corps of Engineers for diverting water to other states. Mark Strassmann reports.
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Exposed lake bed and beached boat docks are shown at Lake Lanier in Georgia this month. (AP)
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“The phone is just ringing off the hook,” said Bob Askew, the owner of a well-drilling company. “It’s like working at a telethon or something.”
Lake Lanier is the region's main source for drinking water. And it's being drained into crisis, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports.
“And here, these are tree stumps,” said Val Perry, a resident.
Perry is furious. The lake is so low that entire islands have surfaced.
“And you can see these guys are done,” Perry said while boating on the now-shallow lake. “Ooh, see, we just hit something.”
Lake Lanier is down 10 feet just this summer. And among five million Georgians, panic is rising.
Without rain, the lake's drinkable water could hit bottom by year's end.
Many of the boats and boaters left weeks ago. The shallow water is why. At the nearly dry spot Strassmann reported from on the lake, he should have been floating in 14 feet of water.
And the level is still dropping another foot every week.
Control of Lake Lanier is now a power struggle.
Georgia's suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the lake, and drains up to three billion gallons more every day.
Most of it flows south into Alabama and Florida, feeding people, utility plants, even two varieties of mussels protected under the Endangered Species Act.
“We are trying to balance that so that we meet the needs up and down the river,” said Col. Ben Butler of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Georgians like Val Perry accuse the Corps of mismanagement, saying it is “irresponsible, arrogant.”
Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue agrees.
“It is nonsensical,” he said.
Georgia's suit demands the Corps stop sending so much water out-of-state.
“The public doesn’t understand that. And it gives the public little confidence in the ability of the federal government to manage our affairs,” Purdue said.
As the lake drains, the crisis deepens.
Rain's in this week's forecast. But this region really needs a downpour for days.
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See all 53 Commentsis good news, but there is always plenty of news.
sorry, the planet is having orbital decay.
don''t panic. find the inner child within.
or the inner adult. maybe n.o.r.a.d. can
put us back on a proper course.
itself, for ten points. the earth orbits in
an ellipse. it is not a stable place to be.
you could evacuate earth, live in space, or
just put the whole planet on its own course,
and live within it. very simple i know.
its more complicated, but just to be basic.
Wrongo chief! what the region needs is BIRTH CONTROL, do the math: less people + less raw materials = the region needs LESS to begin with.
Posted by newster1 at 12:57 AM : Oct 23, 2007
Oh, and how would YOU know what that area needs. You some kind of expert? And remember now, experts don''t know much, they can only deal with only one field at a time. What we need is more rain!
And who is your monkey god,, Bushitt, the chimp in charge?
It''''s amusing to watch the Slime Boaters attempt to trash Al because he doesn''''t fit Georgie Porgie''''s agenda.
Well are you laughing now, crackers?
If you see some Apache helicopters.. RUN! Those guys don''t know a bomb planter from a well digger or Geogia from Iraq.
Privateers have been quietly buying up water rights in the South and West over the last few years. Wait until it becomes a full blown commodity like gasoline with a speculative market etc.
Dems out there. I think its Bill Clintons fault god is still mad about him. Grow up get a life what a bunch of losers you are. How did Geroge Bush cause this and what the hell do you think Al Gore could do about it. It''s called over building!!!! To many people from the NORTH MOVING GTO THE SOUTH to become Crackers I guess.
Posted by Ksjeff
Oh yes, and people would like to dismiss you as nuts but the Bechtel corporation headquartered in San Fran has already done this in countries such as Bolivia.
People running around with their bottled water will no longer get it from the tap someday.
An oil man from Texas applied for water rights to the enormous aquifer that extends across the great plains. They are planning while idiots debate if such notions are paranoia. Privatization of america is what will be selling off america to the largest shareholders. Hostile takeovers by selective and tailored law enforcing sociopathic totalitarian rule.
NO ONE is more qualified to regulate rivers and waters than the Corps of Engineers. No one could do that thankless job better than they can. Under-staffed and bare-bones federal budget, the Corps still does its job carefully. They thoughtfully balance the welfare of a lot of things, people, wildlife, environment, wetlands, birds, fish, endangered species; every person working in the Corps knows the seriousness of their job. No one balances development with environmental protection better than the Corps. When they are allowed to. When whoever is currently in the White House doesn%u2019t chop their authority up even more.
Humans are always screaming in fear when something threatens their rights and privileges. But isn''t it humans that have the brains to see that the water levels were dropping long before now, that there was a drought long before now?
But all summer long, Atlanta lawns were watered, Atlanta cars were washed, those large mansions with their 3 bathrooms weren''t bothered with warnings. What did Atlanta do to conserve water this summer? And now they are punching hole after hole in the aquifer?
Fear runs this country these days, common sense and rational behavior is gone. We have long been warned our natural resources were running out, but instead of listening to the message, the messengers have been vilified.
Quit pointing fingers and take personal responsibility.
What are your credentials, that allows you to make this statement?
What education do you have, what experience in the evironmental sciences do you have, that allows you to come to such a conclusion?
1)We have to balance the people''s needs with ecological concerns. Georgians won''t die from lack of water, those protected species will.
2)Even more importantly--the signs and symptoms of this water problem in Georgia didn''t happen yesterday--they''ve been around for many months if not years. Gov. Perdue ignored these signs of impending water shortages, and angry Georgians need to look no further than the governor''s mansion in order to hold people accountable. Take responsibility!
Yes, you might be right.
I believe that you are also correct about over development, but naive about planning being poor.
Developers have a plan. The courts are full of litigation by developers to ease or lift environmental restrictions on endangered wildlife habitat and the clean water act so they can develop shorelines and wetlands. The drive of developers is insistant and hard-core. They are lobbying the fat cats in WA (so easy to do), and use the legal system to bring lawsuits. They attend town meetings and use tax revenues and property taxes as bait to get counselors to change zoning laws and local environmental laws. They shield their money-making behind tales of needing affordable housing for the population but in Florida, the developments and subdivisions that are going up all around these magnificant views of diminishing conservation areas are full of homes that list in the $200,000. Not exactly low-income or affordable.
The hurricane-prone shores are full of McMansions that developers jam in, sell, and don''t look back. It is the buyers who assume all risk after that.
There is planning, but it isn''t poor. :)
I say lets go rape mexico of all their resources and services, we will fare better than to just blindly support that many people with what we have.
No other country is sooooooooo STUPID!
Of course it might not be climate change, it might be God punishing Georgia.
I say lets go rape mexico of all their resources and services, we will fare better than to just blindly support that many people with what we have.
No other country is sooooooooo STUPID!
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Posted by riggie3 at 12:38 PM : Oct 23, 2007
+ report abuse
Now THAT woudld be a waste of resources. Easier just to kill off the illegals. Lake Mead in NV, is the same way, Then agian we LIVE in a desert.
So tell me why if the world is in global warming why in gods name havent we developed more Desalinzation plants? HMM??? Why didnt the almighty creator of the internet donate or even suggest that?
Lets just sit down and pray, maybe GOD would do something. Or this could be a sped up cycle of earth, wait we will call that global warming.
If you''re referring to Al Gore, his opponent was appointed as President by the Supreme court, remember? Guess it would have been up to Bushit to put in those desalination plants, don''t ya think? But he was too busy paying off the neocons with his tax cuts and war. Now another billion dollars has gone missing in Iraq, how many desalination plants could that have funded.
Nope, the Georgia Repugs can just suck their dry wells.
Sucks for Georgia. Now we must wait for the people who belive the world is ending to come and tell us to open our bibles up. What happens if we start to live on the moon and mars? Would god still control those PLANETS, dont think he grew tree and plants on those. But What ever, everyone is corrupted by greed, money is meaningless. needs to be like Star Trek where money no longer exists.
If you have the minds, the ideas, the physics, the designs to do something, why should it be limited by money something that is already being phased out into a digital sense.
Ramble ramble ramble.
No you idiot - the millions of illegals are using our resources in each state. If you cant figure that out, you need to continue to search for the facts. GA is only one state. The entire US is losing resources.
__
The whole population of the State of Georgia is under 9 1/2 million. You surely must be refering to the entire US.
George Bush?
Posted by incog-nito
They can ALWAYS buy bottled water. It''s clean, good, and after drinking you can easily throw the bottle away.
Best of all it never runs out since hey restock the shelves daily.
If Katrina showed this nation anything, it''s that the Federal Goverment (under the Bush Administration) CANNOT EFFECTIVELY MANAGE DISASTERS!
They can pretend the drought doesn''t exist and maybe it''ll go away!
This redneck logic is hard to beat!!
LOL
The nanny gov''t aint there if yer learnt any thing from katrina..
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