I must say yours is one of the most ignorant and obnoxious comments I've seen here in a while. How should the ordinary people living here accept the blame for the actions of their government? Did we elect them? Hell no. For the most part government officials are not elected, but hired by other government bureaucrats,* and if you don't like something that the government does, tough s**t, They'll do it anyway. BTW the COE is releasing water at four times the rate of what is flowing in using Lake Lanier to keep the lower river at at artificially higher level. If there were no dam at all, then the lower river would have a lot less water in it.
*Look at the federal government for example. There are about 18,000,000. How many are elected? 537.
Sorry you find the truth so upsetting, but my comments are based on facts and history. I was born and raised near Atlanta and I'm very familiar with the issues there. You may not like it, and you may choose to shoot the messenger, but the sad reality remains, Atlanta is running out of water and there is no simple solution now that it has been allowed to reach crisis levels. I do find it interesting, though, how you try to make it about me, rather than realizing the problems and dealing with them. Your comments are just an extension and a glaring example of what got ya'll into the problems you face now.
How should the ordinary people living here accept the blame for the actions of their government?
Um, by attending planning commission meetings, local and county commission meetings and becoming vocal about issues before they become a crisis. It's called being a citizen. You can also help by electing congresscritters that support your views. When 70% of the electorate sits out virtually every election, they have no one to blame but themselves. Funny, a few years ago when Atlanta was getting record rainfall, I don't recall anyone stepping up and calling for water restrictions then.
Did we elect them? Hell no. For the most part government officials are not elected, but hired by other government bureaucrats
Yes, you did elect them, or rather, your apathy did.
The ever growing water problems in the Atlanta metro area has been known about for at least 25 years, yet the citizens just let their gubmint continue the building boom without regard to water supply, sewer capacity and the like. Atlanta has been paying million dollar a day fines for their pitiful sewer system for years because the corrupt Atlanta government refused to fix the problem until it became a crisis.
So, no, I don't have any sympathy for Atlanta whatsoever. Deal with it.