26% OF S.E. USA IN EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT

[Anonymous]

Drought tightens its grip on US Southeast as communities weigh drastic conservation measures
BUFORD,
Georgia oct 07 – If there is a ground zero for the epic drought that is
tightening its grip on the southern U.S., it is once-mighty Lake
Lanier, the Atlanta water source that is now a relative puddle
surrounded by acres (hectares) of dusty red clay.Tall measuring sticks
once covered by 12 feet (3.7 meters) of water stand bone dry. “No
Diving” signs rise from rocks 25 feet (7.6 meters) from the water.
Crowds of boaters have been replaced by men with metal detectors
searching the arid lake bed for lost treasure.

Little rain is in
the forecast, and without it climatologists say the water source for
more than 3 million people could run dry in just 90 daysThat dire
prediction has some towns considering more drastic measures than mere
lawn-watering bans, including mandatory rationing that would penalize
homeowners and businesses if they do not reduce water usage.”We’re way
beyond limiting outdoor water use. We’re talking about indoor water
use,” said Jeff Knight, an environmental engineer for the college town
of Athens, 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, which is
preparing a last-ditch rationing program as its reservoir dries
up.”There has to be limits to where government intrudes on someone’s
life, but we have to impose a penalty on some people,” he added.

About
26 percent of the southeastern U.S. is covered by an “exceptional”
drought – the National Weather Service’s worst drought category. The
affected area extends like a dark cloud over most of Tennessee, Alabama
and the northern half of Georgia, as well as parts of North and South
Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.The only spots in the region not
suffering from abnormally dry conditions are parts of southern and
eastern Florida and southeast Georgia.Government forecasters say the
drought started in parts of Georgia and Alabama in early 2006 and
spread quickly. Sweltering temperatures and a drier-than-normal
hurricane season  contributed to the parched landscape.

Now residents are starting to feel the pinch.
Restaurants
are being asked to serve water only at a customer’s request, and
Governor Sonny Perdue has called on Georgians to take shorter showers.
The state could also impose more limits within the next two weeks,
possibly restricting water for commercial and industrial users.In North
Carolina, Governor Mike Easley stopped short of imposing statewide
water rationing but asked people to stop watering lawns and washing
cars.”A bit of mud on the car or patches of brown on the lawn must be a
badge of honor,” Easley said Monday. “It means you are doing the right
thing for your community and our state.”As conditions worsen, the Army
Corps of Engineers has become a favorite target of lawmakers in
Georgia, Florida and Alabama, where the drought has intensified a
decades-old feud involving how the Corps manages water rights.”I
particularly am disappointed that the Corps has allowed so much water
to drain out of our reservoirs, out of our lakes, as they have,” said
Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a Republican . “It’s not that we haven’t
had enough water. It’s more a function of allowing so much of it to go
downstream.”On Friday, Perdue threatened to take legal action if the
Corps continued to let more water out of a north Georgia water basin
than it collects. And the president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of
Commerce said on Monday that businesses could also line up behind a
legal challenge.”We have an ongoing water crisis in metro Atlanta. And
it is the biggest and most imminent economic threat to our region,”
said Sam Williams, the chamber’s president.

Scientists have
little reason to hope the drought will ease anytime soon.The Southeast
Climate Consortium warns that a La Nina weather system is forming,
which could bring drier and warmer weather for Florida and most parts
of Alabama and Georgia.”When we need to recharge our water system, this
is what we don’t want,” said state climatologist David Stooksbury, who
predicted that it will take months of above-average rainfall to recoup
the losses. 

[Author]

October 17, 2007 at 11:52 AM