NOTE:  Blog Action Day was a huge success.  See the wrap up information at www.BlogActionDay.com

As a follow up to Monday’s post on the environment, I thought I’d share some of the issues we’re dealing with here in Atlanta and Georgia as a whole.  Right now, the biggest problem we’ve got is a lack of water.

Lake Lanier, which is the source of much of the region’s water is at near record lows.  In some places, there are 18′ wide stretches between where boat docks end and the lake water begins.  Naturally, when we’re not in a severe drought, the water comes right up to the docks, which is really handy if you have a boat.

Is our drought due to global warming?  I doubt there’s any agreement on that score, but when you put this together with all the other weird weather phenomenon worldwide, one must wonder.

This drought is not just affecting recreational boaters.  We’re now in a Level 4 Drought, according to the EPA.  We’ve already got outdoor water bans.  The suggestions that are being made to keep outdoor plants alive are varied.  One is to use rinse water from the clothes washer to water plants.

I’m not quite sure how that is supposed to work.  You can’t just put the drain from the washer into a bucket because you can’t use water with detergent in it, just rinse water.  So, are we supposed to stop the washer after the rinse cycle and bail the water out?  Or, crawl behind the washer in the middle of each load to put the drain hose into a bucket?

And, there’s talk of putting limits on indoor water use.  What does that mean?  Go back to the concept of Saturday night baths?

As it turns out, one reason Lake Lanier is so low is that we’re sending water down to Florida to make sure endangered freshwater mussels in Florida have lots of water.  Really – can you imagine a world without fat threeridge and purple bankclimbers? 

But, I really don’t want to lose any endangered species, so I’ve got an idea.  Rather than making the people in Georgia do without water, why don’t we just relocate the mussels?

There must be other places with enough fresh water rivers for these critical little mussels to live.  And, I’d even volunteer to help.  I mean, how hard could it be?

I don’t anticipate the relocation project ending up on Animal Planet with the host peering around a bunch of reeds explaining that “Joe is set with the tranquilizer gun to subdue the animals in preparation for their move”.

I think it would probably just be a matter of bending over to pick up the mussels.  Although I must admit that I’ve never seen a purple bankclimber, so I’m not sure what kind of speed they can muster if they don’t want to be picked up.

In any event, before the state of Georgia is declared a disaster area due to the air being contaminated with excessive body odor, I think I’ll give the Governor a call and suggest that we organize a mussel round up.