Drought Tightens its Grip on North Georgia

Drought conditions continue to grow harsher across north Georgia. Water levels in reservoirs and streams are at or near record lows across most of the region. Groundwater levels are also low.

Lake Lanier, a primary water source for metro Atlanta, is at a record low for mid-November. The previous mid-November record low was at this time last year.

Hartwell, Russell and Clarks Hill lakes in the Savannah River basin are at record low levels. Both Russell and Clarks Hill have less than two feet of usable pool left. Hartwell water levels are dropping very quickly in order to meet downstream needs. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers reports that the remaining conservation pool for Hartwell is 34 percent, for Russell it’s 32 percent and for Clarks Hill it’s 10 percent.

Even with normal seasonal rains, it’s doubtful that Lanier, Hartwell, Russell or Clarks Hill lakes will fully recover this winter.

Major rivers that are at record low flows for mid-November include the Etowah River at Canton, the Chattahoochee River near Cornelia, Chestatee River near Dahlonega, the Middle Oconee River at Athens, the Broad River near Bell, the Little River near Washington, the Oconee River at Dublin and the Altamaha River near Baxley.

Because of the extremely low stream flows, many counties in north Georgia have had their drought level classifications changed to a more intense level.

Exceptional drought – the most severe drought level - now exists north and east of a line running through Lincoln, Wilkes, Olgethorpe, Oconee, Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, Forsyth, Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin counties. This region includes Athens, Gainesville and Atlanta’s northern suburbs.

Extreme drought conditions are now in Columbia, Richmond, McDuffie, Glascock, Taliaferro, Warren, Hancock, Greene, Morgan, Walton, Gwinnett, north Fulton and Cherokee counties. The extreme conditions are also in parts of Pickens, Gilmer, Fannin and Murray counties.

Most of the remaining area north of the fall line is in severe drought. Heard, Troup, Harris and most of Talbot and Muscogee counties are in moderate drought.

The ocean-atmosphere system is in what climatologist call a neutral pattern, meaning it is in neither an El Niño nor a La Niña pattern. Historically, neutral-pattern winters have been very variable.

There is no strong indication that the winter of 2008-09 will be abnormally wet or dry. The trend over the past 15 years, however, has been for dry winters.

There is also no strong indication that the winter will be abnormally warm or cool. An important historical observation is that every major devastating freeze has occurred during a neutral-pattern winter.

With recent winters being our best guide, the most prudent response is to assume that this winter will tend toward the dry side. Water conservation efforts should continue.

Additional drought information and updates can be found at www.georgiadrought.org. Automated weather data across Georgia is at www.georgiaweather.net. Daily rainfall data is at www.cocorahs.org. U.S. Geological Survey data is at ga.water.usgs.gov. Water conservation information is available at www.conservewatergeorgia.net.

By David Emory Stooksbury
University of Georgia

David Emory Stooksbury is the state climatologist and a professor in engineering and atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia.

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Georgia’s Drought Gets Worse on Dry September

Tropical Storm Fay brought beneficial rain to Georgia in late August. But a very dry September has led to the return of low stream flows across the state and worsened drought conditions.
All streams in Georgia except those originating in the extreme southern counties are extremely low. Most streams in the state’s northern half are at or near record low flows for this time of the year.

Because of the extremely low stream flows, many counties have had their drought level classification changed to a more intense drought level.

The region now in extreme drought is north and east of a line from Burke, Jefferson, Washington, Hancock, Putnam, Morgan, Walton, Gwinnett, north Fulton, Cherokee, Pickens and Murray counties. This includes the cities of Athens, Augusta, Blairsville, Clayton, Cumming, Gainesville and Madison. Extreme drought conditions occur about once in 50 years.

Severe drought now exists north of a line from Screven, Jenkins, Candler, Toombs, Jeff Davis, Telfair, Ben Hill, Wilcox, Dooly, Macon, Schley, Marion, Chattahoochee counties. It includes Atlanta, Columbus, Macon and Rome. Severe drought conditions occur about once in 20 years.

Moderate drought conditions exists in Appling, Bacon, Bullock, Coffee, Crisp, Effingham, Evans, Irwin, Pierce, Quitman, Stewart, Sumter, Tattnall, Turner and Webster counties. Moderate drought conditions occur about once in 10 years.

Mild drought conditions are found in Atkinson, Berrien, Brantley, Clay, Lanier, Lee, Long, Randolph, Terrell, Tift, northern Ware, Wayne and Worth counties. Mild drought conditions occur about once in seven years.

Abnormally dry counties are Baker, Brooks, Bryan, Calhoun, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Glynn, Grady, Liberty, Lowndes, McIntosh, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Thomas and southern Ware.

The biggest concerns over the next several weeks will be stream flows and soil moisture.

Lake Lanier is at a record low for this time of the year.

In the Savannah River basin, Clarks Hill Reservoir only has 2.78 feet of usable pool remaining, Lake Russell 1.31 feet and Lake Hartwell 19.57 feet. Since Lake Hartwell is at the top of the basin, its water will be used to support downstream reservoirs and other water needs. Lake Hartwell’s water level is expected to drop significantly over the next several weeks.

Farm ponds are showing the lack of rain. Beef and dairy producers are having to move cattle for drinking water purposes or find alternative water sources.

Low soil moisture in the fall can be good for harvesting some crops. But not all farmers benefit from the dry conditions. The dry weather will likely prevent some from getting another cutting of hay. It will also inhibit the planting of small grains and over seeding of pastures.

The probability for meaningful drought relief over the next couple of weeks is low. October is still in the tropical storm season. But the likelihood of tropical weather impacting Georgia diminishes rapidly as the month progresses.

Additional drought information and updates can be found at www.georgiadrought.org.

Automated weather data across Georgia is at www.georgiaweather.net. Daily rainfall from CoCoRaHS is available at www.cocorahs.org. U.S. Geological Survey data is at ga.water.usgs.gov.

Water conservation information is available at www.conservewatergeorgia.net.

By David Emory Stooksbury
University of Georgia

David Emory Stooksbury is the state climatologist and a professor of engineering and atmospheric sciences with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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UGA Responds to Drought with 28 Percent Reduction in Water Use

The University of Georgia has lowered its water usage by 28 percent over the past year, and the university has saved more than $250,000 through conservation and cost-cutting measures and the enthusiastic cooperation of faculty, staff and students.

Less than 12 months after a special water conservation task force called for “serious water-saving measures” to combat a severe drought, UGA has cut water usage by 90 million gallons, according to new data from the Physical Plant Division, which is primarily responsible for water conservation efforts.

Usage is down in virtually every area of campus operations but most spectacularly in research functions where consumption has dropped by one-third, or 52 million gallons.

The task force, composed of faculty, staff, students and administrators, was created in October 2007 as Athens withered under one of the worst droughts in recent history. Six weeks later the group issued a report calling on UGA—Clarke County’s largest water user with an annual consumption of 564 million gallons—to reduce short-term use by as much as 25 percent without seriously harming teaching and research. The report also recommended developing strategies for long-range conservation and steps to increase UGA’s water supply now and in the future.

Since last November, water usage for instructional purposes is down from 72 million gallons to 57 million gallons and usage in residence halls is down from 64 million gallons to about 56 million gallons, according to the physical plant data.

Usage for irrigation purposes fell from 13 million gallons to zero as physical plant stopped almost all outdoor irrigation and researchers in greenhouses ceased automated watering, lowering greenhouse water usage by 6.7 million gallons.

But the greatest savings are in research functions, which consumed 31 percent of campus water, highest at the university. Research usage plummeted from more than 160 million gallons to about 110 million gallons.

UGA’s total 28 percent reduction far exceeds Gov. Sonny Perdue’s order last October that state-owned facilities cut water use by 10-15 percent, and also surpasses Clarke County’s 20 percent reduction goal.

Physical plant officials attribute the success mainly to aggressive implementation of water-saving measures throughout campus and widespread support for the “Every Drop Counts” public awareness campaign.

“The work (of the task force) created tremendous public awareness of the critical drought situation and served as an impetus for personal water conservation activities on the campus,” said Ralph Johnson, associate vice president for the physical plant. “The savings were achieved through the collective efforts of faculty, staff and students taking personal responsibility for campus water use as well as by equipment upgrades and retrofits accomplished by the physical plant.”

Johnson said that even before the task force report was finalized, physical plant moved several water-saving projects that had been on the “back burner” to the top of the priority list. One project involved changing the way tap water is used to cool refrigeration compressors and other equipment in research labs in the Miller Plant Sciences Building and the biological sciences building.

The change, which reconfigured the use of inexpensive but inefficient devices called “once-through” cooling units, led to an average savings of 1.25 million gallons of water a month in the plant sciences building alone.

Physical plant also replaced 1,500 toilets, 500 urinals and 2,000 faucet aerators in instructional building rest rooms with water-saving fixtures. Those retrofits are projected to save 30 million gallons of water annually.

And, 63 water meters were installed on cooling towers in campus buildings to enable physical plant to better measure water usage and detect and immediately repair control malfunctions—steps that potentially could avert the loss of hundreds of gallons of water per hour.

Other water-saving measures include replacing shower heads and toilets in residence halls with low-flow devices, repairing leaking pipes and fixtures in campus buildings and using captured rainwater and better mulching for high-priority planted areas.

The other major key to reduced water consumption, Johnson said, was the enthusiastic buy-in by faculty, staff and students for the “Every Drop Counts” campaign, which not only educated people about the necessity of saving water but also got them actively involved.

A Web site that provided daily water-saving tips and invited additional suggestions and ideas brought in more than 115 responses. A hotline for reporting water leaks and wasteful practices brought in so many complaints about toilets with overly sensitive automatic flushing mechanisms that physical plant deactivated the mechanisms on 150 commodes.

The campus was plastered with posters, stickers, buttons and magnets encouraging such action as turning off water while washing hands. The Residence Hall Association encouraged students to take shorter showers and turn off water while brushing teeth. The Ramsey Student Center provided hand sanitizer as an alternative to washing. The Georgia Center for Continuing Education stopped daily washing of linens, and the center’s restaurant stopped serving water except on request.

Even athletics got involved. Athletic programs cut their water use by 39 percent for the year. Several head coaches made public service announcements about water conservation and at a football game, a row of male fans spelled out “CONSERVE WATER” in red and black paint across their backs.

Johnson said that although drought conditions have eased a bit over the last year, water conservation is still essential.

“The key issue going forward is to continue making water efficiency improvements even during times of abundant water supply, which we hope will return soon,” he said. “In this way, UGA will be much better when—not if—the next drought occurs.”

By Larry B Dendy
University of Georgia

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