Water Issues/need for water reservoirs:
• ¾ of Americans worry a great deal about contamination of: soil and water by toxic waste, pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, pollution of drinking water, and the maintenance of the nation's supply of fresh water for household needs.
• With a growing population, there comes a need for greater demand in water supply.
• Water released from the dams is critical because it is often arbitrary, based on decades of averages, rather than of hour-by-hour monitoring that is possible with today's technology.
• Reservoirs provide a variety of benefits to Georgians.
- Municipal and industrial water supply,
-navigation, and flood control are among the primary purposes for construction of larger dams in Georgia.
-Recreation, amenity uses, and agricultural water supply are the most common primary purposes of smaller reservoirs.
-Recreation benefits can include creation of popular sports fisheries.
-And, because reservoirs trap sediment, they can also have ancillary benefits. These benefits, however, come at the expense of the services that free-flowing streams provide.
• Reservoirs, large and small, provide many benefits for Georgians.
• Municipal and industrial water supply, navigation, and flood control are among the primary purposes for construction of larger dams in Georgia.
• Reservoirs were developed for the principal purposes of flood control, navigation, power generation, recreation, and drinking water.
• They produce hydropower for 20,000 to 25,000 homes per year.
• Recreation, amenity uses, and agricultural water supply are the most common primary purposes for smaller reservoirs.
- Farmers rely on farm ponds to supply irrigation water and provide drinking water for livestock.
• Reservoirs help ensure that municipal, industrial, and agricultural water demands can be met during typical late summer low flow periods and during droughts.
• Larger reservoirs are sized to meet water demand and provide minimum downstream flows under specific low flow conditions.
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Water Supply Planning for the 21st Century Water supply planning in Georgia, as anywhere else, is a very