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In response to the worst drought experienced in North Georgia, Dr. Carol Couch, Director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), declared a Drought Response Level 4 for 61 Counties in North Georgia. Following a summer of increasingly tight water restrictions, and several counties (including Cobb) preemptively declaring total bans on outdoor water use, Dr. Couch mandated a total ban on outdoor watering on September 28, 2007. All of the 61 affected counties are classified in exceptional or extreme drought status. The drought, which began in 2006 as a shortage of rainfall and exceptionally dry soils, became a severe hydrologic drought in 2007, when water resources began to be affected. The total water ban will not be without socioeconomic impacts. Areas of the state face water shortages, and businesses dependent on water face stringent restrictions with serious financial ramifications.
In Cobb County, Lake Allatoona, one of our two sources for the County's drinking water, is almost 8 feet below average for this time of year and 16.5 feet below full pool. Since 1981, Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority (CCMWA) has made multiple appeals to the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for additional allocation for drinking water from Lake Allatoona for its service area, which includes Cobb and Paulding Counties, and portions of Cherokee, Douglas and Fulton Counties. Multiple factors, including the impact on downstream flows and interstate legal disputes over use of the region's water resources, have had a significant bearing on CCMWA's ability to withdraw additional water from Allatoona.
Allatoona Facts:
Allatoona average elevation for this time of year is approximately 832.4 feet above mean sea level (MSL). Current elevation is 824.5 MSL, almost 8 feet below average, and is expected to continue to decline.
From October 2006 through September 2007, CCMWA's average net withdrawal [gross flows less net returns] was 31 mgd, which converts to 48 cubic feet per second (cfs).
From October 2006 through September 2007, the Corps' average release from Allatoona was 934 cfs.
CCMWA's storage contract with the Corps provides CCMWA with 4.61% of Allatoona's conservation storage (or that portion of the lake dedicated to hydropower).
The remainder of Cobb County's water is drawn from the Chattahoochee River. This river basin is one of the smallest in the United States to serve a major metropolitan area. The Chattahoochee basin, which includes Lake Lanier, provides water to more than 70% of Metropolitan Atlanta. Lanier, another Corps reservoir, has also been significantly impacted by the drought and interstate legal disputes, as well as by large releases from the reservoir for downstream flows as directed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for threatened and endangered species. Lanier is currently almost 8 feet below average for this time of year, and over 13 feet below full pool
Climatologists predict that the drought will persist in North Georgia through the winter and into the spring of 2008. The anticipated extension of the drought, coupled with high releases from these headwaters reservoirs, leaves the possibility of much greater challenges meeting future demands for drinking water as we move into 2008.
Chattahoochee Facts:
Lanier average elevation for this time of year is approximately 1065.5 MSL. Current elevation is below 1058 MSL, almost 8 feet below average, and is expected to continue to drop at a rate of 1.5 feet per week.
CCMWA has a permit issued by Georgia EPD for 87 mgd annual average withdrawal from the Chattahoochee River.
From October 2006 through September 2007, CCMWA's average withdrawal from the Chattahoochee was 53 mgd, which converts to 82 cfs.
From October 2006 through September 2007, the Corps' average release from Lake Lanier for all downstream uses was 1221 cfs.
Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority's average daily demand during the winter is 80 to 85 million gallons. From May through September of this year, prior to the Level 4 declaration, CCMWA's daily demand on "dry" Fridays was 103 million gallons. The Level 4 declaration has resulted in a 16% drop in demand from 116 mgd (September 2007 prior to declaration) to 97 million gallons a day (October to date).
As Cobb County and the rest of North Georgia face new water supply challenges, conservation of our existing resource becomes essential. In 1988, CCMWA became the first utility in the state of Georgia to hire a water conservation specialist. CCMWA's conservation education programs have continued since that time, and its current program, waterSmart (www.watersmart.net), has been adopted for use by the Georgia EPD in its statewide public education efforts for water conservation. In March of 2004 the Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved The Cobb County Water Efficiency Plan. The water efficiency program includes education and outreach, water saving fixture distribution, and outdoor water use initiatives. Cobb County was the first county in the metro area to establish a position dedicated to the creation and management of a water conservation program. A toilet rebate initiative is being developed to assist customers with the cost of replacing their old high flow toilets. Additionally, our leakage rate and water tier conservation pricing methodology is very effective in conserving water.
It's important to note that in CCMWA's 1988 50-Year Water Supply Master Plan, growth was anticipated in per capita demands to 190 gcd. When that report was being written, the region was in the midst of a drought that changed its perspective on conservation. Conservation became a focus of long-term water supply planning, and the upward trend in per capita water use reversed. Per capita water demands for Cobb County dropped from 146 gallons per capita per day (gcd) in 1990 to 130 gcd in 2000 to 123 gcd in 2006.
The sacrifices our citizens are making by foregoing outdoor watering, washing cars, and filling pools, are both necessary and difficult. With the possibility of tighter restrictions in the near future, the role of each individual in managing water becomes critical. Small changes in behavior, adherence to the restrictions in place, and the retrofitting of high water consuming fixtures in the home, will and do make a difference and help extend limited resources. "Though we understand how difficult this is for our citizens, this is an issue of public health and safety. It is a time for personal sacrifice for the greater community good" explained Sam Olens, Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners.
With the help of Senators Isakson and Chambliss and our Congressional delegation, we must impress upon the Corps and the courts the need to reduce the flows from both Lake Allatoona and Lake Lanier. We must all share the pain of this record-breaking drought.
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