Wolf Creek featured in AJC
Today's Atlanta Journal & Constitution had a small feature about the billion dollar development Wolf Creek, which will primarily will be in Carroll County though Douglas County will aid in the development. The purpose of the article was to highlight on the lack of viable water that will be provided in the future. Because North Georgia is developing at alarming percentage, water resources are finally coming to a stress level that will cause serious problems in the next few years.
Even if Wolf Creek was never developed, water will still be a problem outside Metro Atlanta even if that natural resource is prevalent throughout Douglas County. Politics has guaranteed this water epidemic by letting developers dictate policy while affiliations with politicians pocket greenbacks.
One example is how Douglas County does not receive any treated water from Sweetwater Creek due to irresponsible politics during the 1950s. Instead of using this plentiful resource to support the community it was sold off to the City of East Point. Near Riverside Parkway is a pumping station that sends water to the City of East Point where it should be used for residents in Douglas County.
This brings up a point about the rising water level at Dog Reservoir to support the overwhelming amount of developments in Douglas County. However there is reason to believe that the water level is rising for the anticipation of Wolf Creek. Pipes are being installed south along Georgia Highway 5 in the direction of Wolf Creek, which will border along the Douglas & Carroll counties.
Below you can read the whole article from the AJC:
Georgia's growth will sag when taps dry up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/30/06Janis and Walter Sims recall the drought of 1999-2002, when the creek running through their 10 green acres in Carroll County diminished to a trickle.
They worried that their well would follow suit.
The drought passed without the well going dry, but they remain concerned about their water supply. Temple-Inland Land and Timber wants to build Wolf Creek, a 19,000-home development bordering their land. The Simses wonder what will happen to their well if the county drills new wells and dams to slake the thirst, water the lawns and wash the clothes of the estimated 58,000 people who will move in to Wolf Creek.
The county must develop new sources of water to meet the demand. It estimates that at current growth rates — and without Wolf Creek's homes, office parks and shopping centers — the supply of water will run out in 2018.
"Water is our Number One concern," Janis Sims said.
The Simses' concerns are being played out across Georgia from the family farm to businesses, cities, counties and state agencies. There is only so much water. When the people in the region use all that's available, the growth that has fueled North Georgia's rise as one of the nation's economic engines will sputter.
"Without water, we don't grow," said Charles "Chick" Krautler, executive director of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Planners across North Georgia recognize that. But the question that no one can answer is how much water is available.
Krautler said studies show counties inside the ARC planning area can continue growing until about 2030.
Nap Caldwell, the state Environmental Protection Division's senior water policy adviser, said estimates are based on a lot of "ifs" — if metro residents take conservation measures; if more water can be taken, treated and discharged back into Lake Lanier, if new technologies or sources come online, if the legal wrangling between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over use of shared river basins goes Georgia's way.
Counties like Carroll, which lie outside the ARC planning district, face the same questions on a local scale.
Some experts question how much time politicians have to resolve the ifs.
Mark Crisp, an engineer with C.H. Guernsey & Co., has worked 28 years on water projects around the world. He is studying Georgia rivers for governments and businesses.
"Because of [much of metro Atlanta's] reliance on a single source, the Chattahoochee River, we are getting to a point that, depending upon calculations and analysis … if you take a very bleak view, we could be close to being tapped out in next five to 10 years," he said.
"No politician wants to say we have got to control growth, we've got to slow it down," but that day is coming, he said.
He has not studied Carroll County's water situation, but after hearing a presentation by the county water authority in April, he said, "Quite frankly, I think they are close to being tapped out."
Carroll County Commissioner Jimmy Godbee, an accountant by trade, wants to plan the future on facts, not best- or worst-case scenarios.
"I realized the most critical issue was water supply because it is a nonrenewable resource. You can bring more electrical lines and gas and all the other infrastructure, but if you have no water, nothing else flourishes," he said. He is pushing the county to spend about $100,000 for a study that will show Carroll County how much water it could produce, and how that might affect the scale of development.
Georgia is going through a similar process. The state Environmental Protection Division began drafting a statewide water study and plan 14 months ago.
Though it is won't be finished for more than a year or presented to the General Assembly until 2008, it is already generating political heat. A coalition of agricultural, mining, business, real estate and governmental groups wrote state EPD Director Carol Couch last month, expressing concerns about a statewide plan's negative effects on development.
Couch tried to calm their fears, saying the state would not set ill-informed policies.
The effort, money and interest given the water question has shown how in 30 years it has gone from a non-issue to a priority that will define how and where the region grows.
"It's good to get people's attention," said Pat Stevens, chief of environmental planning for the ARC.
She is more optimistic than Crisp on the amount of time the region has to find answers.
"I wouldn't be a doomsayer yet," Stevens said.
The plan to supply metro Atlanta to 2030 has some enforcement mechanisms that will help the region solve some of the "ifs." If a local water authority is not doing what it needs to do to meet conservation, treatment or reuse provisions, the state can deny it any new water withdrawal permits.
The consequence of growth is clear as natural resources becoming ever more unattainable. We tend to forget how precious the simple things can be, from washing our hands under a facet to driving out fossil fuel vehicles. What is there to lose when everything around us is disappearing?
