ATLANTA —
Five years after legislators enacted the Water Stewardship Act in the midst of the last major drought, the agency tasked with implementing it is releasing regulations, and some industries warn they could have major economic consequences.
Environmentalists are hailing them as an overdue tool for encouraging conservation of a valuable resource.
The public can see for themselves next week when the proposed rules are posted online and a comment period begins.
The rules will provide the mechanism for the Environmental Protection Division to force conservation by restrictions on water systems on the basis of low flow in particular watersheds. In the last drought, restrictions reduced water usage statewide by about 10 percent, according to EPD’s chief of watershed protection, Jac Capp.
Continuing conservation measures and population growth since then may make it difficult to shrink usage by another 10 percent in the next drought, he said. That’s why the rules call for a localized response rather than a statewide one like was used in 2010.
That drought happened during the Great Recession, so the combination of limits on outside watering and a tough economy bankrupted many landscapers and plant nurseries while crippling food processors.
The rule tries to accommodate large industrial users that can’t afford to instantly cut their water consumption by giving the EPD director the ability to grant exceptions.
“There is information built into the rule that EPD would consider if it were to do that, and that information is designed to take into account industrial users that are unlikely to be able to reduce their consumption on a short-term basis,” Capp said.
Still, agriculture industries are concerned.
Brian Tolar, president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, told the Board of Natural Resources that strict limits on outdoor watering during the last drought triggered $3 billion economic losses statewide. That’s why his group fought to get exemptions added to the law the proposed rules are based on, but he said the draft rules ignore half the exemptions.
“If we mess with those exemptions, basically what that is saying to consumers at the highest drought level ‘You’d best not buy
any plant materials; you’d best not resod or install azaleas or dogwoods or whatever,’” he said.
Capp noted that there are no restrictions for watering by hand or drip irrigation in the first 30 days, only on automatic sprinkler systems.
Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation, complained that the rules don’t give companies credit for water they treat and return to streams. Instead, it only counts the water taken in.
Environmentalists say EPD amply accommodated businesses and required most of the conservation be done by municipal water systems. Overall, environmentalists are pleased, according to Chris Manganiello, policy director of the Georgia River Network.
“EPD did a good job in the stakeholder process. They were pretty responsive to our suggestions,” he said.
The proposed rules also include requirements that water systems conduct annual audits of their leaks and submit plans for fixing them. Those that can’t show progress could have trouble getting permits for more withdrawals from streams and may even be stopped from adding customers.
The draft rules will be made public next week. The board will vote on them in June after considering comments from the public.