Atlanta just months from running out of water; Corps: No Plan B needed yet

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iYOMIAzXREFVjcYtNagkheasCXwAD8SCGVUG0

City could go dry in a few months, at least according to the first five or six paragraphs of this story.

Then you have the Army Corps of Engineers saying there's no reason for a contingency plan because they're still a few months away from completely running out. Drink up, there's nothing to worry about! :

Aren't these the same guys responsible for the New Orleans levy?

 

Oh, and it gets better. They're also releasing millions of gallons a day and sending it down the Chattahoochee into Florida, the better to protect some endangered fish, I believe. And they just recently decided...to release even more!

 

And Alabama is suing because it feels the ACE is holding back too much water...

 

I can go walk a quarter-mile into my nearby lake and not get wet ...

 

There's a suit going on from 1990 over water rights that still hasn't been solved. Fortunately, it rained a quarter-inch here last night and took care of much of it.

OUTING ALERT: Jeebus. Write-brained is Jeebus.

 

Christ, actually, and that's already been established. 8)

(Inside joke, so no one John Lennon me)

 

I get it.

 

The Army Corps of Engineers aren't worth a damn, my dearly departed grandfather used to say on a nearly daily basis.

As time goes on, I tend to believe him.

 

I think Athens is in worse shape than Atlanta. Thanks to some emergency measures that were taken, Athens has enough water to last through the rest of the year. After that, nobody seems sure that they're going to do.

My parents picked a really bad year to spend a small fortune on an elaborate garden. Most everything there is now dead.

 

There's plenty of water in Athens. They just have to figure out how to get the barley and hops back out of it.

And Florida wants its share of the water to keep the oyster beds off Appalachicola viable, which is an important industry on the Forgotten Coast.

 

A cheap, consistent supply of fresh water could be the only thing that saves the Rustbelt (outside of NYC and Boston, which seem to be booming) from becoming the East Coast version of the buffalo commons.

It's a valuable resource Cleveland, Buffao, Pittsburgh, etc., need to promote more in trying to lure business back to the region.