Georgia Water Managers Snap Into Emergency Mode

Water managers imposed a state of emergency this month in a Georgia county fighting low water levels.

North Georgia is facing a “searing drought,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported. A quarter of the state is facing “severe” or “exceptional” drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. In Haralson County, 35 miles west of downtown Atlanta, water levels are so low that the main intake for freshwater is no longer submerged, WXIA reported.

The county launched into emergency action, imposing the state’s most severe water restrictions, the AJC reported. The county called for a localized state of emergency, WXIA reported. The move imposes a total ban on outdoor watering, building on a previous measure limiting such use.

“MANDATORY, COMPLETE OUTSIDE WATER BAN IS IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,” managers announced on the county website.

Officials hope the ban “will keep limited reserves available for emergency responders, such as firefighters, if they are needed. Even county and city car washes have been shut down as county agencies try to deal with the issue,” WXIA reported.

The AJC summarized the ban like this: “No outdoor watering (except for irrigation of family food plots). No car washes. Football fields must remain dry. And, please, don’t run the water while brushing your teeth.”

If initial measures do not do the trick, the county’s game plan for addressing low water levels is, in part, to make a plan:

At this point, the plan is to clear beaver dams along [a vital river] in hopes of helping increase water levels downstream. If that doesn't work, however, [an official] said the county would have to come up with a new plan. As for an old plan, there isn't one because few if any in the county have dealt with a similar problem, he said — at least not in a very long time.

Charlie Walker, executive director of the county’s water authority, said the county’s decision to act followed low levels in its main water source, the Tallapoosa River.

“Longtimers say they’ve never seen it this bad since 1925. The picture from our dam looking upstream is just unbelievable. Within a two-day period, it dropped three feet. It looks like somebody pulled a cork out of the bottom of a tub,” he said, per the AJC report.

“It’s up to everybody to do their part. If you don’t need to use water, don’t use it. We’re asking everybody to conserve,” he added.

As in California, drought in Georgia has come hand-in-hand with drought-shaming.

A Haralson County commissioner won some media attention after he was photographed apparently violating the outdoor water ban, WXIA reported. The photos were posted on Facebook.

The commissioner said he was not aware of the ban, that he stopped using the water when he found out, and that he plans to replace what he used by purchasing water from Alabama to return to the water system.

“All of a sudden, I became famous, if you want to call it that, over Facebook,” he said. “We’ve been called some pretty bad names by people.”

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