Fire and water twin challenges.

• Author: Peirce, Neal
• Position: Reprint - Column

COULD THERE BE A PATTERN HERE?

The San Diego and Los Angeles areas are hit by a raging series of high-impact wildfires--the worst in the state's history. Many of the blazes coincide with areas already scorched in 2003 by fires that themselves were declared California's worst ever.

But is there any move to get away from the areas where a century of firefighting has left many forests choked and overgrown, thick underbrush creating tinderbox conditions? Apparently not. Most homeowners vow that they'll stay in the fire-prone areas, or return to rebuild on the charred foundations of their former homes.

Across the continent, "exceptional drought"--the National Weather Service's worst category--impacts Georgia and its neighboring states. Water levels in Lake Lanier, the 38,000-acre north Georgia reservoir that supplies water to almost 5 million people, fall so drastically that the lake may dip into its storage capacity dregs in less than four months.

But Georgia limps along without a state water plan. No one wants to talk about water rationing. In suburban rings around Atlanta, planned new subdivisions don't have to prove a long-term water source before developers plunge into construction.

"We're growing faster than our water resources. We have a shortage, not only in drought, but when it's raining; says Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

A stiffer assessment comes from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon: "Georgia has been sleepwalking. The Atlanta region has the most rapid growth rate in the history of urbanization. But Georgia's never done an assessment of its water capacity."

In California, there's praise for the professionalism of last week's firefighting effort. President Bush rushed to send federal firefighters, aircraft, grants for temporary housing and repairs, plus funding to clean up debris.

But the myopia about the future seems profound. Climate change is already having an apparent impact, with a 1 degree Fahrenheit temperature rise across the West. "Megafires" are sprouting; fire seasons are far longer than just 20 years ago.

Natural watersheds, warned California Forestry Director Ruben Grijalva last June, are being seriously encroached. With baby boomers and others buying large houses up and over the canyons, man-made structures and paved surfaces are expanding rapidly, increasing surface runoff during storms. That leads, in turn, to more soil erosion and less water for trees or vegetation. The inevitable result: more fires, whether...