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By Skip Clement, Contributor
[dropcap]J.[/dropcap] Brad Stelfox, Ph.D., University of Alberta, famous landscape ecologist said: “The demand for water keeps growing from agricultural, industrial and municipal uses. Society is treating rivers as if they are an endless stream when they are not. In fact, climate change is leading to more droughts, evaporation, and less snow pack – all factors that reduce water supply.”
Adding, “We should be treating it as a precious resource and using it more efficiently.”
The Chattahoochee River begins as rivulets in Helen, Georgia, then slices the State of Georgia in half, dissects the metropolis of Atlanta before heading south to its pipe end in the Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.
Georgia is known as the Peach State, but its carotid artery is a river named by its native peoples
Four million people rely on the Chattahoochee River for their drinking water, including 70% of the residents in metro Atlanta. As the state’s most heavily utilized waterway, the Chattahoochee is essential for recreation, power generation, wastewater assimilation, and crop irrigation, among other uses.
While not as stirring on the surface as the lead-up to a Saturday Georgia Tech or University of Georgia college football game, this conference, and more like it, are attracting anglers and out of doors folks of every stripe around the U. S. Why? A new administration in Washingto, DC, wants to gut 30 years of progress – hit the delete button on the clean air and water acts.
Americans across the country don’t like the current climate of Washington politics when it comes to the environment. The majority of citizens reject the current practice of blind ideology, a narrative of distortion – detached from scientific realities.
Ordinary citizens are joining together to make the difference by being responsible
Featured Image is guide Justin Adam Powell and the angler is Becca Klein. The image is provided courtesy of Justin Powell, fishing manager at Orvis Atlanta and avid fly angler of the Spey pursuasion. Powell is also active in Chattahoochee Riverkeeper matters and advocate for the 4th annual Orvis Down the Hatch Fly-Fishing File Festival upcoming in nearby Alpharetta, Georgia in October.
Becca Klein (far R), Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK) Development Director and budding fly fisher, accepts the $10,000 check from Atlanta, Georgia’s PC Construction management team. PC Construction’s most recent local project is a joint venture on the City of Atlanta Water Supply Project, one of the largest infrastructure projects currently underway in the country. The project will connect the city’s water supply with the Chattahoochee River to significantly increase Atlanta’s drinking water reserves. Photo courtesy of CRK and PC Construction.
