Fresh Loaf

Two weeks after Gov. Sonny Perdue’s announcement that local water providers could lift the outdoor watering restrictions in Georgia’s drought-addled counties, many of those spigot guardians were reluctant to do so.

Add the city of Atlanta to that list. At a press conference today, Mayor Shirley Franklin, backed by Robert Hunter, the city’s Department of Watershed Management commissioner, said residents cannot water their brown lawns. Public and private pools, however, can be filled immediately and used during the summer months.

Hunter has said that the exemptions Perdue trotted out — one-person, one-hose watering for 25 minutes a day, three days a week — would be difficult to enforce. The watering restrictions for 61 drought-afflicted counties in North Georgia have been in place since September.

In late October, Perdue ordered all large water users, such as municipalities, utilities and industries, to reduce their water use by 10 percent based on the months of December through March of the previous year. The city initially stumbled out of the gate, but has since met the order. The governor’s mandate still stands, although it lacks any form of penalty to violators. Utilities, by and large the heaviest of water users in the state, are now excluded from the monthly tallies because Carol Couch, director of the state Environmental Protection Division, said they serve a critical function.

More to come on this later, including viewpoints from those who are most affected by the restrictions.

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