Georgia’s Governor, Sonny Perdue, tried a faith-based approach to Atlanta’s water shortage last November, staging a public prayer session to ask God for rain. Perdue stood on the steps of the state capital and declared “We come together for simply one reason, for one reason only - to reverently and respectfully pray up a storm.”

Atlanta received just enough rainfall to prevent 2007 going down on record as the driest year ever, but Georgia’s water crisis continues.

Maybe Governor Perdue should consider something a little more proactive than praying–say, consulting with rainwater recapturing expert Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. Lancaster was on NPR’s Morning Edition today explaining how easily and efficiently rainwater can be harvested and used for irrigation, instead of wasting precious drinking water.

With so many states facing record drought, why not capture whatever rainwater we do get, instead of letting it run, like money, down the drain? No doubt God would approve–after all, as Benjamin Franklin noted, “God helps those who help themselves.”