It's the electricity, stupid!
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/11/17/power_1118.htmlAs the historic drought worsens and the tri-state water battle escalates, Georgia policymakers are all but ignoring the region's biggest water guzzler.
Electric utilities are the single largest users of the region's freshwater. A family of four can use three times more water to power their home than they use to drink, bathe and water their lawn.
In Georgia, electric utilities use 68 percent of all surface water, the single largest user in the state, according to 2000 data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest year available.
...
Water flowing through Georgia and its neighboring states is controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
To the corps, power generation is a top priority.
In Georgia, Alabama and Florida, most electricity is produced by Atlanta-based Southern Co., the nation's second-largest utility holding company with $14.3 billion in annual revenue.
Southern owns plants in all three states, which are locked in a legal battle over rights to much of the water the company uses. Southern has filed hundreds of pages of legal motions in the dispute, now in its 17th year.
...
The average Georgia household burns 1,100 kilowatt hours of electricity a month. That translates to about 27,000 gallons of water.
By comparison, a family of four goes through about 9,000 gallons a month for household uses such as washing clothes, flushing toilets and showering.
...
Cheap and abundant power is key to the Southeast's economic growth.
But bigger demand for cheap energy is clashing with the availability of water, the state energy strategy warns.
"The pressures of a growing population and industries will tighten water supplies in more regions of Georgia, making even less water available for energy production," the report says.
Meanwhile, policymakers such as Gov. Sonny Perdue focus public outrage about the drought on environmental laws protecting mollusks in Florida, rather than the region's growing demand for power and its impact on water.
The task of raising that issue has fallen to other players in the water war.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley tried to make the point last month by holding a news conference about water rights outside Southern's Plant Farley.
Perdue scoffed and talked mussels while Southern Co. stayed away from Riley's news conference, keeping its head down.
Since running out of water doesn't seem to get Sonny much more riled up other than to scream at mussels and hold publicity stunt prayer sessions, maybe this will:
Power plants also require minimum river flows to keep operating. Low flows on the Coosa River forced Georgia Power to cut back energy output at one plant this summer.
In other words, when the water runs out, the lights will go out.
Question for Georgia state experts: is there a recall option, because Sonny's term doesn't end until 2010. By then, it will be too late to prevent this slow train wreck from happening.
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