Farmers understandably resist telling the government how much water they are pumping out. At the moment, as bad as agricultural conditions have become, they are not quite so acute as the coming calamity in the state's more populous areas. As builders keep building, manufacturers keep manufacturing and people keep coming, we are flat running out of fresh water in parts of Georgia, particularly along the coast and in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The water problem is measurable and real. Known but expensive solutions to the water-quality challenges are available.
Water supply presents more complicated hurdles, especially in the dry-dry months of summer.
Strict summer-long conservation measures are just around the corner. So is curtailment of peak-power generation at Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee, which certainly will translate into higher electric bills for consumers. Meanwhile, Alabama and Florida continue to demand that Georgia reduce consumption during the hot dry-weather months. The U.S. Supreme Court will settle this fuss one of these days. When Barnes took necessary steps to disrupt the status quo in education, teachers cried in anguish.