More Than Luck Needed to Avoid Future Water Problems

Be thankful for recent rain and thankful for the foresight of Bloomington officials to raise the dam at Evergreen Lake, increasing the reservoir’s capacity.

Otherwise, Bloomington could be facing water restrictions like those recently imposed in Decatur.

With the available water supply from Lake Decatur dwindling, Decatur limited the watering of lawns, golf courses and athletic fields to two hours on one day a week and prohibited operation of outdoor fountains.

Under the rules issued earlier this month, Decatur restaurants are supposed to serve water only on request and vehicles can’t be washed except at commercial facilities, which recycle the water.

These restrictions are likely to sound familiar to people who have lived in Bloomington more than 20 years. Similar restrictions were imposed in August 1988 as a drought began to dry up the city’s reservoirs, Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake. Water restrictions remained in effect for roughly 18 months until the drought finally broke in early 1990.

At one point the lakes were a combined 36 feet below capacity.

Several steps were taken after that to help Bloomington weather future droughts.

The biggest project involved raising the Evergreen Lake dam by five feet in 1995. That increased the lake’s surface area from 700 acres to 900 acres and increased its capacity by 36 percent.

We need similar foresight to ensure a reliable water supply not only in the face of drought but also in the face of continued population growth.

You need not have lived here 20 years to realize this is and continues to be a growing area.

Fortunately, the demand for water has not increased at the same pace as the population.

Required use of water-conserving devices in new construction and changes in people’s habits have kept average daily water use near the same levels as two decades ago, Bloomington officials say.

We are nowhere near the situation faced in 1989, when an emergency pumping pool had to be constructed to divert water from the Mackinaw River.

And we are nowhere near the dire straits faced today in northern Georgia, where an extended period of drought, rapid population growth and other factors have left the greater Atlanta area with a three-month supply of water in its primary reservoir, according to some estimates.

However, the water issue needs to stay on the radar of local officials.

Consultants are looking into the possible use of wells within the city limits to supplement water from the two reservoirs. City Manager Tom Hamilton expects a preliminary report as early as next spring.

Consider that it took nearly five years to get the necessary permits to raise the Evergreen Lake dam. The community can’t wait until vast areas of cracked mud reappear at the reservoirs – as they did in 1989 – before taking action.

We never want to face the situation Georgia is facing today – or Bloomington faced in 1989.

(c) 2007 Pantagraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.