LeakBird

(May 11, 2009, The Miami Herald)
The states of Florida and Alabama are meeting Georgia in federal court in Jacksonville over the allocation of water from Lake Lanier, which is the city of Atlanta’s water supply.
U.S. District Judge Paul Manguson will hear arguments Monday from the three states over the legality of the water supply allocations [...]

(May 2, 2009, The Statesboro Herald)
If the measure passes, water and sewer base rates will both go up. The water base rate will rise from $4.60 per month to $6.00 while the sewer rate does the same. As a result, the base rates for city residents will go up $2.80 per month.
Johnson said some of [...]

(May 1, 2009, The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
The rates approved in 2008 increased bills by 27.5 percent the first year, 12.5 percent the second, 12.5 percent the third and 12 percent the fourth. Franklin said Atlanta’s rates already are higher than other major cities.
Auditors suggested the later hikes might be reduced by as much as 2 [...]

(April 5, 2009, The Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Two years ago, while metro Atlanta’s drought burned through the record book, Karin Guzy of east Cobb turned off her in-ground sprinkler system.
It hasn’t been on since.
Instead, she waters her garden from two 250-gallon water cisterns. The large buckets easily fill from light rain collected off her roof.
Guzy doesn’t [...]

(March 21, 2009, Robert Glennon, AlterNet)
The following is an excerpt from “Unquenchable: American’s Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It” by Robert Glennon. Copyright 2009 Robert Glennon. Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington DC.
Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from the introduction of Glennon’s new book and follows a narrative about the water [...]

(March 4, 2009, Robert Glennon, The Huffington Post)
Drought has prompted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state emergency. Water agencies are preparing to impose mandatory water rationing. We’re all hoping that melting snow in the Sierra will save the state’s farmers and city dwellers from hardship.
But once rain starts to fall – and it [...]

As the growing demand for all things water escalates across the United State (hydrologists, water conservation systems, water lawyers, new sources of water, et cet.), the drought environment, such as regions in Georgia, Florida, Nevada and California, has the highest market demand water conservation technologies for three reasons:

 
Timeliness
Fast Payback
Higher Water Rates

 
Timeliness
This is perhaps the most [...]

(Feb. 16, 2009, MyFoxAtlanta)

ATLANTA – Angry water customers filled a state house room to air their complaints about extremely high water bills in the city of Atlanta. And Georgia lawmakers say they may take action to cap water rates in certain circumstances.
(Original Article Here)

(Feb. 11, 2009, Atlanta Journal Constitution)
The governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker on Wednesday appointed 300 farmers, government officials, businessmen and others to 10 regional water councils that will decide how to divide rivers, lakes and underground aquifers.
Metro Atlanta was not included in the 10 councils. The Atlanta region already has a water planning district [...]

(Feb. 9, 2009, Aguanomics)
David Besley sent me his article comparing Australia to Georgia. Besides the usual points (farmers can survive and thrive with water markets), the article had some new stuff:
Before it reaches the Southern Ocean, the Murray drains into two large lakes that are surrounded by wetlands.
[snip]
“We had the driest years on record in [...]

(Feb. 6, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Water conservation amounts differ
The director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division told state lawmakers Thursday that metro Atlanta could save up to a third of the water it uses with aggressive and expensive conservation measures.
Metro Atlanta’s water planners have been less ambitious. In a draft conservation plan, they’re shooting for a [...]

(Jan. 25, 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
A year ago, Gov. Sonny Perdue and state leaders made water their top priority. Georgia’s first water management plan zipped through the House and Senate and landed on Perdue’s desk in under three weeks.
“We will conserve and use this precious and vital resource wisely,” Perdue told lawmakers in his 2008 [...]

(Jan. 23, 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has the legal authority to supply metro Atlanta’s drinking water from Lake Lanier.
The Corps’ legal opinion, released late Thursday, is a good harbinger for metro Atlanta in proceedings unfolding in a federal court in Jacksonville, Fla. That’s where a federal judge is [...]

(Jan. 19, 2009, Atlanta Water Shortage)
Saw an interetsing article in the AJC, from over a week ago: It Takes More Than This To Break The Drought
The weather has gone cold and dry and looks to be that way for the next 5-6 days, but long terms it’s anyone’s guess if the more normal winter weather [...]

(Jan. 22, 2009, Rome News-Tribune)
Small businesses appear to be reacting with more concern than larger businesses to increases in the rates the city charges for “fire line services” on water bills.
For some, those bills have risen from double digits to triple digits. For a 6-inch water line — the most common diameter — the [...]

(Jan. 20, 2009, Macon)

Many people are applauding the state’s new water conservation plan, now up for public comment, although some critics say it isn’t specific enough and is likely to suffer from lack of funding.
Water planning gained new urgency — and political legs — in the wake of a historic drought that has hit north [...]

(Jan. 17, 2009, AccessNorthGA)
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is implementing increased water and sewer rates to help offset projected revenue shortfalls.
The residential water base rate will change from $12 for the first 3,000 gallons to $12 for the first 1,000 gallons. The senior citizen account water base rate will change from $9 for [...]

(Jan. 13, 2009, Jacksonville Business Journal)

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday declined to hear Georgia’s appeal of a lower court ruling in the long-running tri-state water wars.
The high court denied a request to review a decision handed down nearly a year ago by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington invalidating a 2003 agreement to let [...]

(Jan. 12, 2009, WRDWAugusta)
Georgia’s long-term water plans face another threat, this time from the US Supreme Court. A court decision today questioned the state’s right to use more water from Lake Lanier, northeast of Atlanta.
Florida and Alabama are angry about Georgia’s use of more water for drinking purposes.
Georgia has been in a severe drought for over [...]