Southeast Drought (Columbia, North, Clarks Hill: transplants, to live, gardens)

[transplantct]

They mention if every once in a while in the news. Atlanta seems to be in the worse condition followed by a few others cities.

I know SC isn't immune, but is Columbia in a better situation because of it's rivers?

Does anyone know what long-term solutions are being taken to alleviate the problem in the southeast?

[transplantct]

its rivers - typo

[waccamatt]

While the drought has been bad in Columbia, too, we have an abundant water supply so it hasn't been a real problem. The rivers and lakes are a bit low in the Columbia area, but nothing like in Northern Georgia, Eastern Tennessee and the Upstate of South Carolina.

[transplantct]

Oh, I wasn't aware that Columbia was having problems at this point. Well, it's good to know it's not as bad.

[waccamatt]

We haven't had any water limitations to speak of, but you can tell the rivers are a bit low.

[burr]

Originally Posted by transplantct

Does anyone know what long-term solutions are being taken to alleviate the problem in the southeast?

Pray for rain... what else can you do ?

Actually, water tables are down, Lake Murray is down 7'; an exceptional drout, if not for the wet December, 12" off for the year. We got 5 or 6 " in December and the numbers don't look as bad in the end, but it was one of the hottest dryest late summer / falls in my 50 years. Crops / gardens suffered or were lost altogether.

[burr]

[quote=transplantct;2488650]Atlanta seems to be in the worse condition followed by a few others cities.

Atlanta didn't plan for the millions that chose to live there, and water was taken for granted.

[Tennesseestorm]

We had the driest year on record (offically @ the airport), where we received less than half of normal precip for the year.... but somehow, our lake has managed to stay at safe levels.

[Frankie117]

Couple things,

First, our rainfall average for Georgia, SC, and NC is average. However, consumption of water has skyrocketed, especially in the past few years, causing rapid depletion of area lakes. The lakes near the biggest cities suffer most; Lake Murray (Columbia), Lake Norman (Charlotte), and Lake Lanier (Atlanta).

Plus, rain in the South comes in "clumps", we go for time without rain, then it will rain for a couple days, maybe a week. It's something that most transplants to these metro areas are not used to. The "massive drought" is a media exaggeration, and the reality is that while lakes are very low, it is due to consumption not lack of rain.

I recently fished Clarks Hill lake (North of Augusta, GA) and the water was so low it felt like I was in a canyon.

[waccamatt]

Frankie, while consumption does effect the lake levels, we are still mired in a serious drought in the interior southeast.