Recession-weary Georgians prefer stricter water conservation measures over the construction of pricey reservoirs to help solve metro Atlanta’s water crisis, according to a statewide poll to be released Wednesday.
Yet they overwhelmingly want to raise the height of the dams holding back lakes Lanier and Allatoona to help drought-proof the region. And, according to the Nov. 3-5 survey of 600 people statewide commissioned by Georgia Conservation Voters, nearly three-fourths of Georgians support restrictions on outdoor watering during the daytime.
The findings, while intended to influence legislators and gubernatorial candidates in 2010, are also targeted at Gov. Sonny Perdue’s “water contingency” task force now weighing solutions to Atlanta’s water woes.
The task force, comprised mostly of businessmen, meets again Monday to review a slew of water-saving and water-capturing proposals. It intends to submit recommendations to Perdue in December, in time for the governor to craft a legislative package for the 2010 General Assembly.
Time is of the essence: A federal judge ruled last summer that metro Atlanta illegally taps Lanier. If Georgia can’t resolve its dispute with Alabama and Florida over the Chattahoochee River by July 2012, then the judge threatens to slash the amount of Lanier water available to Atlanta.
Reservoirs “are taking up a lot of air in the room, but at the end of the day, we’re in a budget crisis, so we’ve got to prioritize,” said Jill Johnson, lobbyist for the Conservation Voters, a nonprofit environmental group. “Water efficiency and conservation seem like one of the most thrifty and practical ways to meet our water supply needs by 2012.”
Poll highlights include:
- 51 percent of voters “strongly” support water efficiency and conservation. Only 27 percent “strongly” support building new reservoirs.
- 86 percent say existing reservoirs, like Allatoona and Lanier, should be expanded. Lakeside communities, along with local and state politicians, support raising Lanier by 2 feet year-round, and Allatoona anywhere from 2 to 7 feet during the winter.
- 79 percent want all new apartments and condos to be equipped with individual water meters. Georgia Rep. Judy Manning (R-Marietta) introduced a similarly worded “sub-metering” bill last year, which passed the House and awaits Senate action.
“This will eliminate paying for other people's water usage and make them more responsible for their own water use,” Manning said. “It’s a conservation measure that will, hopefully, save us a few drops.”
- 78 percent want state or federal money given to water utilities to repair leaky pipes.
- 69 percent want homeowners and businesses to use more “gray water” – wastewater generated by washers, dishwashers and showers – for outside watering.
American Rivers, a national environmental group, estimates that conservation and efficiency measures, including leaky pipe repairs, sub-metering and low-flow toilets, would yield an additional 130 million to 210 million gallons of water each day for metro Atlanta. Gwinnett County, by comparison, pulls about 90 million gallons daily from Lanier.
And conservation is a lot cheaper than building new reservoirs. Hickory Log Creek Reservoir in Canton, for example, cost more than $100 million.
Despite its serious budget troubles, though, Georgia could conceivably float up to $400 million in reservoir-building bonds next year.
“My expectations are that we’ll have a fairly significant bond package overall. We’re well under the constitutional debt limit,” said Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “But spending $40 million [over 20 years] on debt service for reservoirs is money not spent on education, health care and other things.”
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