West Atlanta Watershed Alliance WAWA ATLANTA WATERSHED LEARNING

West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) ATLANTA WATERSHED LEARNING NETWORK Watershed: Implications for Healthy Water & Communities

Where does our water come from? Georgia’s main water source: rivers ● ● Also referred to as streams

What is a watershed? Area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.

• • Sandy Creek Utoy Creek Proctor Creek Critical to Chattahoochee River WAWA’s Adopted Watersheds

Intrenchment Creek ● ● The South River Watershed Located in the upper part of the Ocmulgee River Basin. Originates near the center of Atlanta Flows into the South River

The City of Atlanta’s water supply and treatment system consists of multiple facilities and an extensive network of water mains. Key to this system are two intake structures, two raw water pumping stations, three reservoirs, three treatment plants, fifteen pump stations, 12 storage tanks, five major administrative facilities and approximately 2, 700 miles of water mains and pipes.

Atlanta’s water bills are among Due to: • Aging infrastructure & sewer system • Cost of water treatment • High demand vs. limited supply the highest in the Nation.

Water is essential for continued economic growth! To date, alternate methods of supplying this water have not been identified, however, alternate methods which are more efficient may be identified in the future.

The drought that ended in 2009 resulted in a reduction on in the usage of water as conservation measures took hold. With the ending of the drought, it remains to be seen if water usage will return to pre-drought levels.

Poor Stormwater Management

Degradation of Our Streams

Creek Cleanups

Stormwater Impacts

How do we Impact our Community?

Darryl Haddock West Atlanta Watershed Alliance www. wawa-online. org darryl@wawa-online. org 404 752 -5385