The Gadfly was somewhat premature in reporting that the very outdated MPCA website was going to be updated. (I even hoped it would become a useful neighborhood news site.) As you can see, nothing has changed. There's not even a note about the upcoming picnic on Sunday! I apologize if I got anyone's hopes up.
As Humphrey Bogart famously said in Casablanca , "I was misinformed."
Speaking of being misinformed, it seems that certain residents of this neighborhood are under the false impression that outdoor watering restrictions have been eased (or lifted entirely) in the City of Atlanta. This is absolutely not the case.
The Gadfly has it on unimpeachable authority that no outdoor watering, as of this writing, is allowed in Atlanta by residential water customers with two exceptions:
1. Personal food gardens.
2. One exemption per address per calendar year for 30 days for newly installed landscaping installed by a licensed landscaper. (A permit is required from the City.)
There are some professional landscapers who seem to think that they are allowed to water any time they do any routine maintenance, but that is not the case. Overseeding and fertilizing doesn't get an exception, even for professionals.
There are two sources of confusion about this, I think. One is that other nearby jurisdictions have eased their bans a bit to allow more water use as recently authorized by Governor Sonny Perdue.
The second problem is that the City of Atlanta's website is not properly maintained. All the various past watering rules remain posted and are viewable, searchable and not even dated. *
However, Atlanta residents who are watering lawns, washing cars at home and letting children play under sprinklers are breaking the law and putting all of us at risk of a water shortage that could be tragic if there is a fire and there isn't enough water pressure for fire fighters.
It might be helpful to put this type of information on the MPCA website to encourage neighborhood participation in conservation efforts, along with other civic goals. Maybe some of our neighbors are not aware that it is illegal to water outdoors.
Violations may be reported here: 404 982 1414
*Atlanta's Public Works Department has a multitude of competence issues that the drought has brought to light. Website maintenance is the microscopic tip of a gigantic iceberg.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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7 comments:
An AJC article this morning reports that the governor has signed legislation requiring all jurisdictions to observe the state water usage restrictions unless special permission is obtained. This means that the standard drought Level 4 requirements are in effect for Atlanta. I spoke with the EDP people this morning and this is what applies to us: 1) Hand watering is allowed on an odd/even basis 3 days a week for 25 minutes only, between midnight and 10:00 am; 2) New landscaping can be watered for a period of 10 weeks on the same schedule as above; 3) Anyone wishing to water new landscaping must first register with the Outdoor Water Use Registration Program at www.urbanagcouncil.com. Washing of cars, pressure washing of houses and driveways, etc etc are also included in the ban. Of course, we all know people in the neighborhood who blatantly ignore all of these restrictions and water anyway. Why should we not report these people?
Clarence, my reason for posting was this statement in the article: "Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a law Wednesday that requires local water utilities to follow state rules unless they get permission to impose stricter or more lenient rules." My point was that all jurisdictions are now required to abide by the same set of rules, in our case for Level 4 drought conditions, in line with all of North Georgia.
When I spoke to the Public Works Department as late as yesterday morning, Atlanta had not relaxed its restrictions to conform to statewide standards. According to today's AJC story that John is referring to (which is a bit unclear) any jurisdiction that wishes to impose stricter regulations must get permission to deviate. The story quotes Mayor Franklin as saying that it is unwise and inappropriate for Atlanta to ease its complete watering ban, but it doesn't say that she will seek authorization to do so.
In any event, at least we have gotten some very good soakings from above lately and there is no need to water the lawn.
"Gadfly,"
Rather than lob complaints about the MPCA website, why not use your demonstrated computer and internet-savvy skills to help maintain and support it?
Christine
That's not a bad suggestion, ma'am, but since the MPCA Board has been ordered not to communicate with me, there would be some difficulty in obtaining information, such as regular Board actions, that ought to be reported on the MPCA site.
Also, I would certainly not commandeer the MPCA site without legal access and authorization. I am not a hacker.
Dear "Gadfly,"
Let me rephrase my suggestion, then, "why not *offer* to use your demonstrated computer and internet-savvy skills to help maintain and support the MPCA website?" Katherine Mulford put it together in the first place, and I do remember specific requests made at the last few general meetings for volunteers to help with that project. Why not contact Katherine directly to offer your help? If there are any issues with you assisting her in maintaining and keeping the MPCA website up to date, I would think she would be happy to take those up with the board. She'll just be glad to have some help!
Christine
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