There's been a spate of water stories in the paper lately, which reminds us that it's probably time to talk about how metro Atlanta is more or less constantly scheming to take our water how we, as a state, need to think seriously about how we're protecting our natural resources.

Plain and simple, parts of Georgia, notably the metro Atlanta suburbs, have spent the past several decades allowing development to explode, unfettered by inconvenient things like effective planning, considerations of land use, and the like.  The prevailing philosophy has been, "Oh, you want to build a Walmart there?  Will it bring us more money?  Coooooooool!"

I'm not, by the way, anti-development.  I'm pro-smart development, and much of the development in suburban metro Atlanta has been, shall we say, less than smart.  Now it's time to pay the piper.

The frustrating part for me is that our community has, more often than not, been doing it right.  When, back in 2007, Governor Perdue laid out mandatory usage restrictions in the midst of a once-in-a-century drought, ACC had voluntarily reduced our usage significantly (over 20%, if I recall correctly).  During that same month before the mandatory restrictions, Fulton County's usage has actually increased.

But that drought passed, and the rains came, and just about everybody conveniently forget that though the immediate crisis had been mitigated, the endemic problem remained.  We use more water than we can sustainably support.  The water problem once again became an abstract concept.  And, instead of rationing and trucking in water, the issue became less personal and more litigative.  A selfish and petty governor rattled sabers against neighboring states, the federal government, and anyone else who would give him credence.  Federal courts consistently told us we needed to clean up our act and start being responsible.  The Governor sulked and, when that was done, announced a not-particularly-bold solution, the "Water Contingency Task Force." 

Ben Emanuel with Altamaha Riverkeeper described the task force quite well in a forum he wrote on Thursday:

...an ostensibly statewide group of more than 80 business and government leaders that includes just four representatives of conservation organizations and is weighted toward metro-area interests.

And that's the problem.  While metro Atlanta makes up a substantial chunk of the state's population, it makes up a significant majority of the task force.  And with business interests outweighing environmental interests, conservation-based solutions are likely to be dismissed out of hand in favor of the philosophy of build, build, build. 

It's still the same old development solutions that got us into this mess, except now they're developing reservoirs, not subdivisions.  Despite the build-first proclivities of most of the task force, you can't just continue to throw money at the problem and hope it works.  It's not drill, baby, drill.  It's build, baby, build.

Next to a nuclear power plant, a reservoir is about the hardest thing to build.  The regulatory hoops you have to jump through are immense; the permitting process can take years. 

The task force is also talking about another solution, in conjunction with new reservoirs, and it's even worse.  Get ready for the two scariest words in water management policy.

Interbasin transfer.

Some people don't find those words frightening at all.  Those people are short-sighted idiots.  What interbasin transfer means, in simple terms, is that a region that needs water, say Atlanta, finds a place that has water, say Lake Hartwell, and starts piping water out to fill their own needs.  Right now, interbasin transfer is illegal.  It needs to stay that way, because if it becomes allowable, every lake, river, stream, and puddle in Georgia is fair game to satiate Atlanta's thirst.

The stakes are high here.  If the task force fails, Atlanta is going to need an extra 280 million gallons per day.  They have to get that water somehow, and right now the only solutions the task force seems to like are more reservoirs and interbasin transfer.

There's a better solution.  Metro Atlanta has grown, now it needs to grow up.  It's time to be responsible adults now, and that means conservation - both on an institutional level and an individual level.

On the institutional level, all of our communities can do a better job.  The place to start is under the streets where leaky pipes abound.  Instead of building a reservoir, spend less, create more jobs, and fix the pipes.  On the individual level, the solutions are not earth-shattering or new.  Recycle water on the household level when you can, turn off the faucet between rinses when you're brushing your teeth.  Buy low-flow toilets, shower heads, and fixtures.  Fix your own leaky faucets and pipes.  This isn't rocket science, it's common sense.

April Ingle, who runs the Georgia River Network, described it best when she called conservation the "hidden reservoir."  There are hundreds of millions of gallons of water out there to be saved and used, not just frittered away.  There's more than enough to sustain Atlanta (if metro Atlanta exercise a little restraint in how it continues to grow), and you don't have to dig new holes or suck water out of Lake Hartwell to do it. 

To the members of the Water Contingency Task Force, fixing pipes and encouraging low-flow fixtures may not be as sexy as new reservoirs and interbasin transfer, but what they may not see is that conservation isn't the best solution, it's the only solution.  

[Photo credit:

cwalker71

on flickr]