ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives today passed Senate Bill 370 by a vote of 153-8. This legislation contains the same programs and requirements as House Bill 1094, the Georgia Water Stewardship Act, and will protect Georgia’s water supply through conservation efforts and new water saving initiatives.
“The House met numerous times and worked countless hours to ensure that the language in this legislation protects Georgia’s water supply in the most practical ways possible,” said Representative Lynn Smith (R- Newnan), Chairman of the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee. “I’m pleased to see that the Senate accepted our ideas and modeled SB 370 with language from HB 1094.”
SB 370 limits hours of outdoor watering, encourages new voluntary water conservation programs, and requires high efficiency plumbing fixtures, like toilets, shower heads, and faucets, to be installed in newly constructed buildings. It also requires the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division, Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, Department of Community Affairs, the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Georgia Department of Community Health, including its Division of Public Health, the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission to examine their practices, programs, policies, rules, and regulations to develop programs and incentives that encourage voluntary water conservation with the goal of enhancing the state’s water supply.
Those agencies must submit a report to the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House by July 1, 2010, which will include proposed changes to encourage water conservation. A second report must be submitted by August 1, 2010, which will include rules, regulations, and policies that have been adopted to develop water conservation incentive programs.
Reports must also be submitted annually to the General Assembly by January 1st from 2011 to 2015. These reports will outline programmatic changes that encourage water conservation implemented during the previous year, goals towards encouraging water conservation for the upcoming year, and policies adopted to accomplish those goals.
“By striking the right balance of incentives and new requirements, this legislation will help our state ensure proper use of its finite water resources,” said Representative Matt Ramsey, one of Governor Sonny Perdue’s House floor leaders. “This measure demonstrates Georgia’s commitment to responsible use of our water supply and will help our Governor continue to negotiate with his counterparts in Alabama and Florida.”
Beginning July 1, 2012, all new multiunit residential, retail, and light industry buildings constructed in Georgia must measure water use on an individual unit by unit basis. It also requires that all newly constructed buildings must use high efficiency toilets, shower heads, and faucets.
The Georgia Water Stewardship Act also limits outdoor irrigation between the hours of 4:00 P.M. and 10:00 A.M, with some exceptions like commercial farming, irrigation of personal food gardens, and reuse of gray water. This policy alone, which must be implemented by January 1, 2011, is expected to save millions of gallons of water loss caused by evaporation.
SB 370 is being sent to the Governor’s office for consideration. A link to the bill can be found by clicking here.
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