This is the motto of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. On Wednesday June 27, 2010 the Senate Natural Resources Committee had a meeting further addressing the water conservation crisis in Georgia. In this meeting the department, which is also working closely with those in the business community, projected the cost to be between 26 to 39 billion dollars. This is needed within a working time frame from now until at the latest 2020. The Department of Natural Resources has two options proposed for congress with a time frame of 2015 and 2020. 2015 deadlines would focus more on incentives to conserve water within the state and the transference of water from other sources. The water transfer systems would only be temporary until new construction or other alternatives came to pass. The 2020 options looks for expanding existing reservoirs and building new ones as well as large focus on dredging .It was also discussed to look into possibly transferring water from Lake Burton.
A big idea that is picking up wind in the General Assembly is that of sub-metering, which is used to more accurately measure and charge water consumption in multi-family residential communities. Members of the business community spoke today and developed a strategy of CONSERVE, CAPTURE and CONTROL. They would like to help the environment by promoting conservation through building materials, and turning some of those incentive programs proposed by the Department of Natural Resources into mandates for the general population. They want to focus on capturing as much water as possible through innovative ideas and new sources. From there the plan would be to control the water by transferring it to places that need it. Obviously the road to conserving water in Georgia is not one that will be easy but at least progressive discussions by our legislators, business leaders, and state departments are being made so that Georgians can have more time and more options for better environmental sustainability.
