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Norton Native
Intelligence: are we thirsty yet?
By
Pamela A. Keene
 The
eyes of North Georgia business and political leaders focused on
Frank Norton Jr. in mid-January for his annual Native Intelligence
report. With residential real estate continuing to be less than
robust, the majority of Norton’s 2012 forecast focused on housing,
finances and growth in the region.
However, his No. 3 Top 10 Trend will hit home for
Lakeside on Lanier readers. Simply titled “Water,” the section is
among the shortest in the report. With provocative sub-headline “Are
We Thirsty Yet?” repeated, Norton said he was “dumbfounded with a
large number of public officials and private citizens’ general lack
of urgency with respect to water.
“By and large, over the last 18 months, it seems
Georgia’s water czars are slow playing the dealt cards and sitting
on their hands,” he said. “The aqua clock has been hit with a snooze
button, but our liquid neutron bomb still ticks on.”
Norton called on elected officials to make some
moves, even though Georgia’s Water Negotiations are headed for the
US Supreme Court.
“The pressure valve of immediate growth has been
relieved,” he said, because the number of housing permits in Atlanta
for 2011 was only 5,300, compared with more than 42,000 at the
housing peak. “We must have a plan, an integrated plan for providing
Georgia’s economy and its thirsty demographics with sustainable,
clean, fresh water sources.”
While the Lake Lanier Association is working to raise
Lanier’s full pool from 1071 to 1073 to increase storage capacity,
Norton has proposed digging the lake deeper.
“It makes too much sense to dig out the 15 to 20
percent of Lanier’s storage capacity filled with 50 years of silt in
an existing EPA-approved reservoir versus waiting 10 to 15 years for
government permission for a new reservoir,” he said. “This restores
61 to 92 billion gallons of storage capacity. The by-product of
digging it deeper is it puts thousands of grading contractors back
to work and cranks up both idle machinery and the economy.”
Norton also mentioned the options of adding two more
feet to the lake’s full-pool to create another 28 billion gallons,
the equivalent of 20 future reservoirs (that may be) built decades
away in Middle Georgia; working at the same time to create a network
of regional reservoirs; and rewarding development and redevelopment
projects that create substantial water conservation initiatives
through Georgia Tax Credits.
The full report is posted at the website listed below
and may be downloaded free.
More info:
www.nortoncommercial.com
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