Atlanta is OUT OF WATER - stop moving here. (yes, fer real)... (Washington: houses, live)

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by irvm

Ever heard of Santa Barbara?
For years, they kept the population under control and kept it a nice place to live by simply outlawing any business which employed lots of people, and regulating the size and appearance (read: cost) of every new and old building. No jobs and no place to live tends to keep people out. And it's completely legal.

Ever hear of building permits?
We have those. All we have to do is stop issuing them.

You guys make it sound so simple- just stop issuing building permits, and people will stop moving here.

OK, so people won't move here and just buy the 100,000 or so houses that are currently on the market?

And how many of you will be directly or indirectly affected by the building boom grinding to a halt? The builders will lay off their supers, salespeople, and others. Mortgage companies, banks, and attorneys will have layoffs. Subcontractors will start cutting jobs and closing up shop (OK, so some of the illegals in town will leave- I guess there is a bright side.....lol). Alll of the retail and other development will stop, losing more jobs. Soon the economy in Atlanta will look like Michigan.

I'm not saying that the current growth can go on without some changes, but a full-on halt on permits would be a disaster. The morons who run the state need to start getting their act together and solve the water issue, or they'll have far bigger problems on their hands than not having water. The time to fix it isn't when you're in the "ohh crap- we ain't got no more water" stage, but I guess we all realize it's too late for that now.

[counterclockwise]

Move to Effingham County Georgia near Savannah. We use about 25 million gallons of potable water flushing water lines because there are not enough users on line to keep the disinfectants circulating. This water is being dumped daily in ponds and creeks, totaling over a billion gallons since Jan 2003.

Effingham County was forced to buy water from the City of Savannah because of EPD pumping restrictions on the Floridan Aquifer. Savannah gets the water out of the Savannah River and treats it to drinking water standards. Effingahm County Government pays for the water, so far over $755,000 to pay for this flushing water.

[OhioNative]

Originally Posted by irvm

Ever heard of Santa Barbara?
For years, they kept the population under control and kept it a nice place to live by simply outlawing any business which employed lots of people, and regulating the size and appearance (read: cost) of every new and old building. No jobs and no place to live tends to keep people out. And it's completely legal.

Ever hear of building permits?
We have those. All we have to do is stop issuing them.

Georgia law and the GA constitution is set up to be pro-development. One of the reasons that county officials really don't have much control over growth is that developers can sue if they don't get their way, and they usually win. Until the law is changed, the growth will not stop. Stopping building permits would bankrupt every county in this region with lawsuits. That being said, I wonder if the local areas could limit the number of new people connecting to the water supply?

[kayrob]

Maybe some of the thousands upon thousands of Southerners who migrated North during the 40's-60's can leave to come back here and ease the overcrowding in the major industrial cities up there while we're at it.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by irvm

Ever heard of Santa Barbara?
For years, they kept the population under control and kept it a nice place to live by simply outlawing any business which employed lots of people, and regulating the size and appearance (read: cost) of every new and old building. No jobs and no place to live tends to keep people out. And it's completely legal.

Ever hear of building permits?
We have those. All we have to do is stop issuing them.

Exactly.

I don't think Atlanta will ever restrict business growth. The metro area is business oriented and the varied leaders throughout the region LOVE growth of that sort for their tax bases; they all WANT larger businesses.

As far as building permits, that's doable, but there's a lot of political B.S. A FEW areas have put temporary restrictions here and there, but far too many elected officials have relatives and/or personal buddies who are in businesses that need tons of water to operate (construction, landscaping, etc) and who also make hefty profits from that growth that's choking the region. Let's not even go into the possibility of "pocket lining" with bribes. Unless the pressure from the public gets bad enough, they're not going to do anything to rock the boat, or anger their friends and buds.

[Derrick_TheRiskTaker]

One more thing to add to your long list of absurdities...why don't those who do most of the complaining, wining, and potty mouthing just get up and MOVE, MOVE, MOVE... then guess what, ALL OF YOUR SORROWS WILL DISAPPEAR....and we will not have to listen or hear them.

Just my two cents on this issue.

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Well, according now to State and Federal experts, Atlanta will pretty much be out of water in about 3 months. As in nearly OUT. Millions of people will have only trickles of water coming out of their faucets, while many will have zero coming out for hours a day, and if it get bad enough, not at all. October is typically our most dry month of the year, and weather experts are predicting a very dry, warm Winter for this year as well. How many days do you think you can go without flushing your toilet? Without taking a shower? How many hours do you think you can stand in a Walmart parking lot behind the mother with 8 screaming kids with buckets in your hand waiting for the water truck to give you your "Ration" for the day?

Today's AJC article: Lake Lanier has three months of water storage left | ajc.com (broken link)

A video article that shows visuals of lake levels: Landscapers Ask Other Businesses To Conserve Water Too - Video - WSB Atlanta (http://www.wsbtv.com/video/14312790/index.html - broken link)


Atlanta to this day continues to add an average of 55,000 new residents per year, every year, to the metro area. Anyone who is already here, I would encourage you to send off an email to the Governor's office and your local elected officials to encourage them to put a hault on new building permits for homes, condos, and apartments for a while.

For those thinking of moving here - I'd suggest perhaps stalling those plans. You will not only be adding to the existing problems here, but, will only add hassles to your own life if once here you are on immediate water restrictions yourselves in your new homes.

[crystalblue]

im surprised people are still considering moving to atlanta at the moment...

[irvm]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Exactly.
I don't think Atlanta will ever restrict business growth. The metro area is business oriented and the varied leaders throughout the region LOVE growth of that sort for their tax bases; they all WANT larger businesses.

Yep. But the federal gov't may do something, as the water situation gets worse.
They've already put lots of air quality controls in place.
Once the feds say 'fugettaboutit' to some requests for funds, local politicians may change their minds.

[goodbyehollywood]

Originally Posted by normie

"IWhat I don't remember was how it ended. We had a few "rainy" years but I don't remember it being REALLY rainy. The only year I remember being really rainy was 1994, and even that was nothing compared to the amount of rain you typically get in Atlanta.

Off topic, but to answer your question, we had El Nino in 1997-98 and it rained all the time that rainy season. Major flooding and some of the canyon roads were closed. Had a repeat in 1999-2000-- rained almost every day from October through March.

[Britishintown]

I hope it rains heavily for the next ten days, then I won't feel guilty about wanting it warm when I get there again for three weeks, after that it can rain again for two weeks.