TheBanyanTree: San Diego Report

[B Drummond]

On Monday 22 October 2007 08:12:39 pm Tom Smith wrote:

>  I _read_ the reservoirs the Atlanta area
> of the globe are at record lows, with rivers starting to
> resemble creeks.  I'd like to hear about that from an on-scene
> witness.

I'm not sure that they're at record lows as I am not privy to that 
information.  One of the lakes, Lake Allatoona on the NW side of Atlanta, is 
very low.  Lower than I can remember seeing it be before when I drove by it 2 
weeks ago, but I have only lived here for about 11 years so I am not a good 
reference on the matter.  

From what I've read, part of the reason for some of the alarm is that the 
rivers on the downhill side of our reservoirs are not being put on the same 
diet that our reservoirs have been put on.  Some are saying that we should 
discharge less because of the shortfall of rain but some government policies 
won't allow it due to previous legislation and agreements with other states 
that are downstream from those reservoirs.

As I mentioned in a previous post,  the dearth of tropical storms moving into 
our area for the last 2 years has exacerbated the lower than normal rainfall 
that we've had this year.

When I moved to where I live now in the metro Atlanta area, which is over 60 
miles from Lake Allatoona and Lake Lanier, which are two of the largest lakes 
in the metro Atlanta area, we, in this area in particular, were in the middle 
of a drought that lasted almost 7 years.  The worst 2 years were very tough 
and we went through a series of water restrictions that ended up with an all 
out ban on outdoor watering, period.  By the way, that drought didn't affect 
the north side of Atlanta just 60 miles away. We adapted and, when the 
drought lifted, we kept the restrictions in place because our area was 
growing by leaps and bounds.  The drought woke up us to the knowledge that it 
was a matter of time before we would be facing similar conditions even 
WITHOUT drought mucking up the picture.

I live on the SW side of Atlanta's metro area.   Now, due to the drought 
mainly affecting the north side of the metro area, it's time for them to wake 
up and smell the coffee.   

The vast majority of the growth in Atlanta has been on the north side, 
especially the NE side.  It's time for them to wise up and conserve and 
realize that our water resources are finite and must be conserved as if we 
are always in drought conditions as there appears to be no stopping the 
growth in the area.  There are millions more people depending on those lakes' 
water supply than just 10 years ago and the lakes have not increased in 
capacity one gallon in the last 10 years.  Something had to give and our lack 
of the remnants of tropical storms passing  through the area has brought this 
point finally to the forefront.   And sadly, the north side of metro Atlanta, 
and Atlanta itself, is just now getting the picture.  In the 
vernacular, "Whut were they thankin", man?"

With all that growth comes loss of natural habitat, increased concrete and 
asphalt  covered areas which affect groundwater supplies and reservoirs' 
storage.  And most sadly to me, loss of our beautiful trees.  All of these 
affect the water situation in the area and it will only get worse, come 
tropical storms or not.  At times it seems that we're on a irreversible 
course that has one goal in mind:  get rid of anything naturally green, 
especially that which promotes transpiration, photosynthesis, and breathes 
out oxygen.  Do you ever get the feeling that society at times is borderline 
suicidal?  The thought has occurred to me more than once.

And isn't much of the same kind of thing true in the southern part of 
California?   Most of southern California is a desert climate and therefore 
prone to wildfire outbreaks, which occur, as I remember, yearly. Isn't 
increased population, poor resource conservation and poor planning of 
development, increased fire risk from said things, and now, especially along 
with nut cases setting fires,  leading to headlines like we've read lately?

I see much more plain evidence of that being the cause of the fires than some 
of the other "causes" of both our water situation and the fires in southern 
California.  

Could some of the comments in the news media lately that I've read and heard 
be due to certain parties trying to cover up poor planning and reckless 
development due to their greed and that of their contributors?   I feel 
pretty certain that's the case around here.

Something to ponder, I suppose.



  bd
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