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What Atlanta wants, Atlanta gets, and right now, they want our water.

I had to share the below in it's entire context...this is a great article provided by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I LOVE the style of writing used in the editorial in the Valdosta Times. It is funny because it is true. Take the Governor's own mansion...it is anything but a good example of how to conserve water, watch this video: http://www.wsbtv.com/video/13649196/index.html I really ought not to cast the first stone, but the second or third is alright isn't it? I still shower daily, run the dishwasher daily, wash clothes weekly, I even steam cleaned my house, washed my car (well...not me exactly) and gave my dogs baths this weekend...the list goes on. I could probably stand to learn a little about water conservation, but then again...I'm greedy too.

Monday, October 22, 2007, 09:30 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In metro Atlanta, Gov. Sonny Perdue has successfully cast the debate over water as a case of mollusk versus man.

But downstream, people in other parts of Georgia aren't sure they like being compared to bivalves. They prefer to think of themselves as a giant Slurpee. Metro Atlanta is the straw - and a greedy one at that.

It's always a disappointment to find out you're not as beloved as you thought.

These are the key paragraphs from the Sunday editorial in the Valdosta Times:

Gov. Sonny Perdue's temper tantrums against the Army Corps of Engineers, the state of Florida and anyone else associated with not giving into his demands continued through the weekend, with meetings at Lake Lanier and declaring northern Georgia a disaster area Saturday to further enforce what everyone else has long known - Atlanta is a greedy, poorly designed behomoth of a city incapable of hearing the word "no" and dealing with it.

The wasteful ways of Atlantans continued through the past decade of severe drought in the state. The water restrictions meant little to them "up there" as they had plenty of water at the time, while rural Georgia and farmers were watching their crops burn in their fields, listening as Atlanta politicians who apparently do think their food originates in a grocery store passed policies designed to prevent them from accessing the water literally beneath their feet.

These same politicians can't bring themselves to tell their greedy constituents complaining about the low flows in their toilets this week that perhaps if they didn't have six bathrooms, it might ease the situation a bit. That watering your lawn isn't as important as watering crops. Or that their greedy overbuilding has taxed their supplies of natural resources beyond their capabilities.

However, all of that requires a degree of common sense and we've seen precious little of it from any politician in this state this year. So South Georgia, watch out. What Atlanta wants, Atlanta gets, and right now, they want our water. If our legislative delegation wakes up, perhaps they can have the state agree to at least let us keep what falls from the sky, even while they suck our ground, and our pockets, dry.
Posted Tuesday Oct 23