Blame It on the Lack of Rain

There are certain days during the Atlanta metro winters when the rains come and I feel that we’re receiving more than enough. Then along comes a sobering report that we’re not getting enough rain and Lake Lanier, our main water supply, is four feet below average. How depressing. To further the depression, the upcoming summer looks to be hotter and drier than the previous summer.

Officials and water supply mavens alike have publish guidelines as to what we, the consumers ought to be doing in drought conditions including taking showers under five minutes, skipping the home car wash, reducing our toilet flushes, installing drought-tolerant plants and blowing up our sprinkler systems. Well, not exactly blow the irrigation systems up, because if that happens, then water will be gushing everywhere. Let’s just say that sprinkler owners ought to permanently shut their main valves off and weld them shut.

I suppose we are ever more becoming like Las Vegas where no one owns a lawn to water. If that’s the case, then it’s high time that homeowners, landlords, business owners and any other owners of traditional landscapes ought to have incentives to ditch their water guzzling lawns. It’s tough to break with tradition, but we all know that having a steady supply of drinking water is more important than a green lawn.

Well, things could be worse: I received an update from the good folks over at AccuWeather.com. They explained that the Texas Forest Service reports that about 5.6 million shade trees in urban areas have died as a result of the devastating drought that affected the Lone Star State. I’m sure there are some people trucking water into some of those dry Texas towns as we speak. AccuWeather goes on to say that more than 50 percent of Texas is still rated to be suffering extreme drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

I shudder to think if things get bad enough we will wind up with outsiders trucking in water and rationing begins. It’s time to rethink how the Peach State deals with its water supply issues ranging from settling the tri-state water war to conservation to building reservoirs. Should Georgia concentrate on one or all of the aforementioned issues? There are no easy answers.

So, even though we have been seeing some rain, it’s not very much. Wow, talk about taking the wind out of your sails.