Perdue proposes water-saving plan lite
BY Ken Edelstein • February 5, 2010
Finally. Prodded by the fact that metro Atlanta stands on the brink of losing a major water source, Gov. Sonny Perdue is pushing a water supply conservation legislation.
But most of the bill’s measures wouldn’t take effect until more than two years from now. And — in deference to the usual special interests that hold sway in the state Capitol — the legislation falls short on at least three steps already taken in other states and long called for in Georgia:
• It would fail to require resold homes to have efficient toilets and other plumbing fixtures (an idea vigorously opposed by the real estate industry).
• It wouldn’t limit outdoor watering to times of the day when the water wouldn’t evaporate (which landscapers and property managers are against).
• And it wouldn’t place safeguards against too many “interbasin transfers” between watersheds (developers and water utilities want such transfers to be easy).
The legislation would require many water-saving practices that Georgia politicians have put off for years. For example, new buildings would need to have more efficient plumbing fixtures; new apartment and office buildings would be required to be sub-metered (which makes each tenant responsible for their own water use); new industrial plants would be allowed to use only high-efficiency cooling towers; and water utilities would be required to meet standards for detecting and fixing leaky pipes.
A lead sponsor indicated this morning that — more than anything — the legislation is designed to mollify Alabama and Florida officials, who now have the upper hand in negotiations over water rights from the Chattahoochee River.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled last year that the Army Corps of Engineers wasn’t authorized to allow metro Atlanta to take more than a relatively tiny amount of municipal water from Lake Lanier; Magnuson gave Georgia until July 2012 to get Alabama and Florida to agree in an interstate compact that metro Atlanta could take the water.
“The bad thing was he drew a line in sand,” state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, told a breakfast audience at the Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable this morning. “The good thing was he drew a line in the sand. It forces us to move forward.”
Tolleson, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources Committee, predicted that the three states will reach an agreement this year. But he cautioned that state lawmakers need to take the right steps on conservation during this winter’s legislative session to impress Alabama and Florida: “In negotiations between the states right now, people need to be careful what they say [and] the bills they [sponsor].”
But will the governor’s bill do enough impress Alabama and Florida enough?
State Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, represents a district downstream from Atlanta that may have more in common with Alabama and Florida on water supply issues than with Georgia. One of the House’s strongest environmental advocates, she told this morning’s Roundtable audience that she hopes two measures she’s proposed — an outdoor watering “schedule” and more restrictions on interbasin transfers — will make it into the final water bill. (In the case of the watering restrictions, the governor’s already stated opposition makes that unlikely.)
Buckner also questioned why so much of the governor’s legislation wouldn’t take effect until mid-2012. “That makes me very nervous,” she said. “We need to be doing something faster than that.”
Seems like a worthy point. While overdue conservation measures could put Georgia in a better negotiating position, the longer they take to implement the tougher it will be for the state to keep its own demand for water down later.
And delaying implementation until the month that Magnuson’s ruling takes effect has the sniff of gamesmanship — as if the state wants to hold out on taking action until the very last minute, or until Georgia manages to reverse the judge’s ruling on appeal.
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Another weak effort by our do nothing Gov. In a quick review of the proposal I found a few more particularly weak items. Shower heads are only required to be 2.5 gallon per minute, which, while reasonably efficient, are no where near as good as many 1.5 and 1.6 gallon units available. Also, there is no restriction on the number of shower heads allowed in a single stall. You can have 50 of those 2.5 GPM heads in a single bathroom if you want.
Also, Watersense has developed a method to pipe hot water in homes to reduce wasted water waiting for it to get hot – this is not easy but it is important and valuable and should be added to the bill.