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Gov. Perdue calls Georgians to a culture of water conservation

February 4, 2010 — Georgians will be called to a new “culture of conservation” under water legislation outlined Wednesday by Gov. Sonny Perdue, struggling in the twilight of his term to find a solution to the long-running water dispute with neighboring Florida and Alabama.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Perdue called the legislation “a diverse and comprehensive package,” and then went on to warn that it will require a brand new mindset for many Georgians:

“Where it makes sense, we’re going to ask Georgians to make commitments that we have never asked of them before, and at other points, we will launch incentive-based efforts to encourage creativity and innovation involving our very diverse bill will require efficient water fixtures in all new residential and commercial construction statewide.

The conservation legislation:

* Will require efficient water fixtures in all new residential and commercial construction statewide.

* Will require efficient cooling towers in industrial construction.

* Will require sub-metering for all new multi-unit construction.

All three of these provisions go into effect in July, 2012 – the same month as the deadline set by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson in his ruling last July that municipalities in Metro Atlanta will have to stop withdrawing water from Lake Lanier in three years absent an agreement between the states or new action from Congress. Perdue said this would give developers and builders time to build in the new requirements.

The state is appealing Magnuson's ruling, but Perdue said the ideas put forth in his legislation should move forward regardless of the legal appeal. They are the right things to do, he said.

Perdue said he will also “look to incentivize locally-driven retrofit programs.”

Incentives might include discounts on GEFA loans – even though critics of his budget proposals contend that there will be less money available if he succeeds in selling-off a big chunk of the GEFA portfolio - or opportunities to apply for community block grant money.

Perdue said he sees the legislation as “the next step to giving Georgia a strong, forward-think program for the future.” But more still we have to be done, he said.

“We cannot totally conserve our way into long-term sustainable use of water. There have got to be new sources of supply. That means interconnections, systems working together better, new reservoirs, reservoirs expansions and other systems solutions for supply.”

Some other items from the news conference:

* EPD will be tasked to set standards for water loss and leak detection for all medium and large public water utilities.

* Farmers will be asked voluntarily to agree to have ground water withdrawals monitored – an expansion of existing programs.

* Perdue said he hasn’t lost hope that the three retiring Republican governors who’ve been negotiating the issue for nearly eight years will reach an agreement before they all leave office.

“I am more optimistic than I ever have been,” he said. “We’re moving along fairly aggressively now, and I am very hopeful … that we can get a compact agreement among the three states.”

Before going before the cameras, Perdue began selling his water-conservation plan earlier Wednesday morning in a speech to the Georgia Agribusiness Council in which he asked members to keep an open mind.

Morris News Service’ Walter Jones quoted Perdue as saying:

"I also know that some of my friends in agriculture are some of the most paranoid people there are, too. Each time you hear the 'water' phrase, you think someone is going to do something to you.

"What I want to do is let's have a reasonable conversation about how we can demonstrate our culture of conservation in agriculture in this area because we're in tough negotiations with Alabama and Florida," he said. "They don't want to hear what we think or what we say. They want to see what we do."

He did make one promise, that he would protect their interests.

"I'm here to tell you I'm not going to let them take any of our agricultural water," he said. "I won't sign any deal that does."