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DEL.ICIO.USWhy water conservation can’t work, and the logic behind that thought
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Tuesday, the print version of the Journal-Constitution featured Gov. Sonny Perdue telling the world that a 10 percent cutback in water usage in north Georgia — which he ordered the week before — was largely symbolic.
It would have little effect on whether the region dries up and blows away.
“The facts do indicate the consumption is to some degree inconsequential, ” he said. “What we are trying to encourage is a spirit of good citizenship.”
Given the fact that the governor admitted such conservation was painful — “For some companies, it has been terrible and [meant] a loss of jobs,” he said — we wondered why Perdue was so dismissive of his own order.
Then someone much smarter than us explained it.
Throughout this water crisis, every state official of high standing — not just Perdue, but House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle as well — has been asked whether overdevelopment is part of the problem.
In each case, the official has said no. Metro Atlanta’s unbounded growth has little or no relationship to the availability of water.
But if you admit that conservation has an impact on water use, then it follows that consumption is an issue that’s more than symbolic. And putting a lid on development would be a next step.
So if you want to keep that growth engine churning, you can’t permit yourself to view conservation as anything more than necessary morale boosting.
We’ll let you people argue over whether Perdue is right or wrong. All we’re saying is that there’s a certain consistency in his logic.
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Comments
By Jerry
October 31, 2007 9:46 AM | Link to this
Thanks, Sonny. Georgia has now lost any credibility it might have had. Saying that if Atlanta didn’t exist the river flow would be the same is disingenuous at best. He dismisses conservation, Cheney-like, as a “personal virtue” of no real consequence other than to make the conservationist feel smug, while at the same time imposing conservation measures. If my company were one of those ruined for Sonny’s admitted “feel good” regulations, I’d be ticked!
By Step up, Sonny & Gold Domers
October 31, 2007 4:28 PM | Link to this
New state law: All new residential and commercial construction be outfitted with low flow faucets, showers & toilets.
All state buildings, especially all state college and university buildings and residence halls, outfitted with low flow faucets, showers & toilets. Any landscaping at state buildings and state college campuses must use recycled water.
All city, county and school system buildings outfitted with low flow faucets, showers & toilets.
All new state, city, county and school buildings must be LEED certified, to save on energy and water consumption
Be proactive: Tax breaks & incentives to all new commercial buildings that are LEED certified buildings, which save on energy and water consumption.
Tax breaks & incentives to all new cresidential that is EarthStar certified, to save on energy and water consumption.
Tax breaks & incentives to car washes, golf courses and other high water use industries for using recycled & grey water, and eventually becoming mandatory to use recycled water when appropriate.
Yeah, yeah, you can cry & whine too much gov’t interference. Wah, Wah. See who’s crying when there’s not a drop left. This is as non-partisan as an issue can get.
By GeezGuys
October 31, 2007 6:04 PM | Link to this
Outstanding example of Republican logic.
By Billy Bob
October 31, 2007 7:51 PM | Link to this
Put the numbers to it- growth and development may be a long term issue worthy of attention but now is not the time and its not the issue of the moment. Just look at how much water the Corps has drained the entire system for US Fish and wildlife. The numbers are astonomical and dwarf the miniscule amount used by humans in the basin. Man’s total water use doesn’t hold a candle the huge drain of water created by the hoakey Fish and Wildlife science used to justify the Corps foolishness.
Its sad that certain environmental groups have decided to take advantage of a disaster created by federal mismanagement of water resources to conveniently press a weak agenda thats not relevant at the moment. The media seems to buy the deception. They are like medical supply salesmen selling goods at a train wreck.
So called environemntal watch dogs seem to speak out of both sides of thier mouth. Its OK for thier beloved US Fish and Wildlife to destroy the Chattahoochee River basin, but heaven help the first human that wants a drink of water.
They also sit quietly and watch as the mega power conglomerates lay claim to the river system to crank out thier dirty mega watts. Not a word from the environmentalists on that one. (Even Congress got that right by making sure the federal lakes were not authjorized for thermo electric power)
I used to support thier efforts- but no more. I can find a better way to spend my hard earned $ for a more effective way to save our rivers.
By anon
October 31, 2007 7:59 PM | Link to this
Get real people. Under the Corp’s and Fish and Wildlife’s IOP its impossible for the river system to recover and for the lakes to be restored.
If someone would just do the math and a little research they could see that under the IOP EVERY single drop of water saved by Georgians is required to be delivered FOB Florida—- no delays! If you don;t believe that just look at hopw the corps has managed thr rains in the 3 Coprs lakes from last week. Its gone!
Conserve to support federal mismanagement and waste—- I’m not interested. Conserve to support nuclear power for Alabama and coal power for Florida- count me out! Don’t buy the tripe being sold by so called Conservation groups!
The smart plan is to bottle evrything you can get your hands on and sell it to Florida,Alabama. and Alabama power.
By Carismar
October 31, 2007 10:36 PM | Link to this
Just to keep the numbers in perspective, metro Atlanta removes 400 million gallons of water everyday from the Chattahoochee watershed, and recycles and returns a large majority of it back to the watershed. The net loss is between 40 and 75 million gallons. From the Chattahoochee and Flint watersheds 2.3 billion gallons is released into Apalachicola Bay every day….40 times more.
By Tucker
October 31, 2007 11:06 PM | Link to this
Billy Bob - You are certainly vague when referring to the enviro’s with “a weak agenda not relevant at the moment.” Also, I would love to see the actual/factual numbers you refer to when discussing water consumption. As for the mega power conglomerates and their dirty mega watts, you obviously have not heard about the group that has been formed to fight the recently permitted Longleaf coal fired power plant - Friends of the Chattahoochee. Normally, as a person active in the conservation/environmental field I would debate your arguments - but I find I can not do that unless you put some facts behind your allegations.
By cnote
November 1, 2007 7:05 AM | Link to this
I know the enviro folks get their ire up when they here water conservation is basically irrelevant in Atlanta, because it’s counterintuitive. None of them want to believe the one daily flush of their family’s single toilet and their multiple uses of bath water has been for nought. Which is why the following facts must be ignored.
If you are on a municipal system the water you use inside your home is cleaned and put back into the Chattahoochee.
90% of the flow is being flushed into the ocean and 10% is used for the metro water supply.
By dan
November 1, 2007 9:48 AM | Link to this
—Just to keep the numbers in perspective, metro Atlanta removes 400 million gallons of water everyday from the Chattahoochee watershed, and recycles and returns a large majority of it back to the watershed. The net loss is between 40 and 75 million gallons. From the Chattahoochee and Flint watersheds 2.3 billion gallons is released into Apalachicola Bay every day….40 times more.—
Thanks for those numbers, I’ve been looking for these. Conservation means little unless we develop reservoirs that actually keep the water in. Conservation will make a difference if and when we get to the point when the lakes drop below the point at which water can be released. (Did I read that the Corps is going to pump water over the dam in this case?)
I thought I read it will be 7 to 15 years before new reservoirs can be built. We had significant rain deficits in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2006. Some other years we just got lucky with tropical storms. Everybody assumes this drought will just end soon. What if it drags on for several years?
We need desalination plants and pipelines from the ocean. The state should at least start laying out the path for the pipelines and acquiring the necessary right of way.
By Neil Coppinger
November 1, 2007 12:11 PM | Link to this
Over 50% of all urban water use is used for landscape irrigation. CA, and soon TX and CO, have legislated into law mandatory use of ET based irrigation controllers that save between 30-60% over traditional dumb controllers. Every 1,000,000 gallons saved conserves 1500 kW hours of electricity as it takes that amount of power to pump and purify the water. Water conservation is indeed possible and can have a huge impact if taken seriously by commercial business. Not washing your car pales in comparison to reducing your local Home Depot’s irrigation usage.
By Good stuff Neil
November 1, 2007 6:12 PM | Link to this
Great info on ET based irrigation controllers, Neil.
But our guvna, state rep’s and state senators are cowards who would never ask for the business community to chip in with something simple like ET based irrigation controllers.
By Matthew Flaschen
November 5, 2007 8:59 PM | Link to this
Putting a lid on development is an option (and should probably be part of the solution) but there are still vast improvements in efficiency that can be made if we’re serious about resolving the problem.
It’s absurd to say conservation and efficiency makes no difference. If it weren’t for efficiency improvements that have /already/ been made we would have hit this crisis much sooner.
By JD
November 6, 2007 8:37 AM | Link to this
I set up a forum where Georgia citizens can give ideas on how to address the drought, and were going to submit the best ideas to the governor’s office and to the local water authorities. Please check it out (it’s free, were looking for ideas) at savegawater.org