Water Security of Atlanta Metropolitan Area

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Water Security of Atlanta Metropolitan Area

• Nick Politte
• Nick Calland
• Nathaniel Dean
• Charles Edwards

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Problem

• Atlanta Metropolitans current population is
  5,138,233 which has been growing steadily and
  putting increasing pressure on the water supply
• 60 of Atlantas water comes from Lake Lanier.
• Ground water supplies less than 1 of water
  consumed in the North Georgia Water Planning
  District
• Can Lake Lanier support the continued growth of
  Atlanta?

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Questions

• How much water is left in Lake Lanier?
• How much water is necessary for environmental
  maintenance?
• How will the water supply change with a increase
  in water use?
• How will the water supply react to a decrease in
  water use?
• How will the water supply react to drought?

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VolumeHeight Relationship

• Equation of Volume vs. Height
• Volume on April 22, 2008
• 1.8 billion m3
• Volume vs. Height info from USACE
• http//water.sam.usace.army.mil/gage/acfist.htm

Volume0.1745e0.0218H R20.9986
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Graph of the Elevation of Lake Lanier
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How much water is necessary for environmental
maintenance?

• According to Whiting (2002), there is a flow at
  which ecological processes can function (like
  fish spawning).
• To determine this optimal flow we must consider
  how much water, for how long, and at what time
  the water will be needed.
• The minimum flow necessary can be assumed to be
  the minimum flow out of Buford Dam since 1985 of
  37,843,627 m3/month

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Methods

• 1. Create a model to determine the supply of
  water in Lake Lanier
• 2. Validate our Model with actual volume data to
  ensure we can accurately project into the future

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Demand

• Using census data to calculate growth over the 27
  years we calculated a growth rate of 2.3 percent.
  
• Using this growth rate we projected demand values
  in 1985.
• Total number of gallons withdrawn from water
  treatment and supply plants on Lake Lanier in
  2005 217 Mgallons (Water Supply and Water
  Conservation Management plan)
• Used (Pacific institute method) to project to
  2030 and projected back to 1985

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Checking the Model
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Checking the Model II
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Upper-Level Demand Projections

• Upper-Level Demand in 2030 is 147 million m3/month

• See Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning
  District

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Conservation of up to an additional 16 can be
achieved
Water Supply and Conservation Management Plan

• Unaccounted for Water-Loss
• High Potential for Further Reductions
• New Projection with reductions in place

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Lower-Level Demand Projections

• Lower-Level Demand in 2030 is 123 million m3/month

• See Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning
  District

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Upper-Level Demand Projections

• Upper-Level Demand in 2030 is 147 million m3/month

• See Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning
  District

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Comparison of Projected Outflows
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Recap

• Validation of our model of Atlanta water storage
  was successful
• Projections using our model indicate that future
  demand will outstrip availability
• Significant increases in water storage and
  conservation are needed

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Further Research

• Interbasin watersharing
• Additional Reservoirs
• Etc.