A state plan to restrict outdoor watering to three days a week should not apply to everyone, some local government officials and golf course operators said at a public hearing Monday.
Developer J.T. Williams of Stockbridge said he is worried about what the watering schedule will do to his golf courses --- two operating and three under construction.
One in Rabun County in North Georgia has expensive bent grass, hauled from New Jersey in refrigerated trucks.
"Watering and cool weather is the only way for it to survive," Williams said. "It's a vital issue to us."
Georgia's robust golf course industry has asked to be exempt from the proposed statewide watering rules. As proposed, the rules would apply to golf courses only during a drought.
In written comments, Columbus Water Works President Billy Turner said his customers should not be on a schedule when there's plenty of water in the Chattahoochee River at Georgia's western border.
"All areas of the state do not have the problems of shortages like metropolitan Atlanta," Turner said.
But members of the Georgia Conservancy, an environmental group advocating water conservation, said the proposed rules don't go far enough. The state should consider limiting sprinklers to 30-minute cycles, said Julie Mayfield of the conservancy.
The state Board of Natural Resources is considering a permanent outdoor watering schedule. Odd-numbered addresses could water Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; even-numbered and unnumbered addresses could water Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. No watering would be allowed on Fridays.
In a drought, the restrictions could tighten to an outright ban. Farmers, retail garden centers, car washes and construction sites would be exempt.
If the board approves the rules on May 26, cities and counties would have to enforce the schedule or come up with their own, which must be at least as restrictive.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
