Port-a-Potties Are Not the Answer

originally published October 24, 2007

A thoughtful Athens Banner-Herald reader suggested in an Oct. 15 letter to the editor that University of Georgia football visitors simply use more portable toilets, rather than flushing, for the games scheduled in November. While this suggestion sounds great, portable toilets still need water from somewhere for treating waste. And, as the writer noted, this suggestion was really only a short-term solution and could not offset all the showers, flushes and water that all of Athens’ visitors require in hotels and restaurants while taking in the games and tailgate parties. Consider these numbers: The Red & Black reported on Oct. 2 that UGA students hold roughly 18,000 of the 92,000 football tickets. The remaining 74,000 tickets are divided by faculty and staff, as well as alumni and visitors from out of town. This of course does not account for the people who come to Athens but do not attend the game. Besides bringing their wallets, all contribute to nearly doubling the size of Athens (population: around 110,000) for at least a single day. Examining the current water crisis in the context of UGA football is a useful tool for illustrating what sort of future economic choices we - as a community - will consciously or unconsciously make.

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Local news coverage since the Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Commission announced the outdoor watering ban on Sept. 17 indicates that temporary emergency pumping from the Middle Oconee River will give the Bear Creek Reservoir enough storage to last about another two months. ACC Manager Alan Reddish will present a draft “Step F” water-rationing plan to ACC Commissioners this Thursday, Oct. 25 (the first day of UGA’s fall break). Manager Reddish reportedly anticipates - assuming no precipitation event rectifies the reservoir’s roughly 14-foot deficit - implementing that plan by Wednesday, Nov. 21. (The details of all this could change, of course, if the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, or EPD, approves the local water authority’s recent request to extend emergency pumping from the Middle Oconee River for another 45 days, thus stretching our supply into early 2008.)

Not only does Nov. 21 coincide with the first day of UGA’s Thanksgiving break, it is conveniently four days after the last UGA home football game. That’s right, water rationing will not disrupt the community’s dominant economic engine, nor impact visitors to Athens. Water rationing will, however, be passed off to the permanent residents and business owners who will ultimately deal with the long-term sacrifice. In terms of the University’s water conservation “leadership,” it is worth noting that the administration informed staff about the water crisis on Sept. 24, but then took its sweet time directly notifying the 6,800 students living on campus (Oct. 8) and the remaining students living off campus (Oct. 14) about the community’s water crisis.

I’m asking community leaders on and off campus to deal openly and honestly with some hard questions that all have significant economic bearing on our community. Tell us on Oct. 25 what the major water allocation policies look like. Give us a taste now and get us ready. For example, will restaurants on one side of a street get water one day, while others get water the next day? What will it mean to use the difficult-to-treat water from the bottom of the reservoir?

Certainly any local decisions about economic operations will become national headlines. Deciding to cancel, relocate or postpone anything associated with the University - like an SEC football game - or to reduce water allocations to a chicken plant would be locally unprecedented. These actions would have major ripple effects throughout the region’s economy and could impact the service and real estate sectors. These would not be minor decisions, as they’d carry serious social and economic ramifications, but these decisions must be weighed.

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We need this information because I do not think the good people of Athens fully grasp how the lack of water will literally run the local economy into the hard, desiccated, cracked red clay. Without water to lubricate economic engines - the food service industry, hospitals, emergency services, construction, manufacturing, the agriculture and nursery sector, schools - these systems cannot function. So, Athenians, right now, forget washing your ride, the green lawn, the exotic ornamental tree, and, perhaps even football. All are minor in the long term. Without water in the pipes, after all, we have major sanitation issues to contend with.

Port-a-potties and bottled water are not viable solutions and will not make the water crisis simply go away. Individuals must fundamentally change behaviors and expectations, and check their entitlement at the door. We should turn this crisis into an opportunity to set an example for the rest of our water-strapped region. Rather than go out on an economic binge - using our water to support major events that rake in the cash - we should consider something more radical and long-term. In the absence of rain and facing the reality of a severely limited future water supply, how can we ethically host major events without endangering the community’s, the University’s, and the rivers’ ability to function after the new year when the water will reportedly be gone?

I recommend that the remaining UGA home games become away games. Or, send the games south, where there is more water, so that in either case, the water we have left will last longer. Then ask the chicken plants to reduce consumption. As a resident of the local community, I can’t deny the economic shot(s) in the arm that the additional wallets bring on gamedays. But if I had to pick between the short-term economic gain or the long-term water availability for my community, I’d vote in support of the permanent residents and invested business owners who are here long after the scoreboard goes dark. I do not want to think my daily personal water conservation efforts will be for nothing if we host thousands of visitors who just don’t care. Regardless of how much more water EPD lets us take from the Middle Oconee, the community should either experiment with water rationing or be provided with a crystal-clear picture of what rationing will look like. As a community of individuals, we need to engage in a conversation about immediate conservation behavior, impending water allocation, and long-term planning. We must focus on all of these elements to get out of a mess that we created and nature highlighted.

Chris Manganiello

Chris Manganiello is a UGA graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in history. He can be reached at chris_mango@hotmail.com.