Metro Water District Approves Water Resource Management Plan with Integrated Approach

(Atlanta, June 7, 2017) – The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District Board today approved a Water Resource Management plan that brings together water supply and conservation, wastewater management, and watershed management into a single, integrated document.

“Combining our three plans into one enables us to look at water management in a holistic fashion and more effectively meet the future needs of the Metro Water District,” said Boyd Austin, chairman of the Metro Water District Board. “This plan protects water quality and supply in the District as well as in downstream communities.”

The plan, developed with robust stakeholder input, includes a range of action steps that build on the Metro Water District’s water conservation and management achievements. These new measures include:

  • Expanding the residential toilet rebate program to include apartment buildings and other multi-family housing units
  • Requiring new irrigation systems for large landscapes (greater than one acre and not including single-family properties) to include pressure regulators, master shut-off valves and flow sensors that detect and report high-flow conditions due to broken pipes or popped sprinkler heads.
  • Requiring utilities to identify and reduce real water system losses to meet goals set for 2025.
  • Requiring increased coordination among local government departments and other stakeholders to improve overall water management.

“This plan continues to provide a strategic framework for water management that will help our region remain one of the nation’s most vibrant, competitive regions,” said Katie Kirkpatrick, vice chair of the Metro Water District who also serves as chief policy officer at the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

The Metro Water District, staffed by the Atlanta Regional Commission, was established by the Georgia General Assembly in 2001 and includes 15 counties and 95 cities. The Atlanta region is the only metropolitan area in the country with more than 100 jurisdictions implementing a long-term, comprehensive water management program that is required and enforced.

The newly adopted Water Resource Management Plan also includes a long-range water demand forecast that shows residents in the Metro Water District will use about 25 percent less water in 2050 than was projected in 2009. Since 2001, per-capita water use has fallen by more than a third. And total water use has dropped by more than 10 percent over that time, even as population has increased by more than 1 million.

“The Metro Water District is one of Georgia’s greatest examples of regional collaboration and has made significant strides in addressing one of our most significant challenges,” said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. “We can be particularly proud of its nationally recognized accomplishments in water conservation.”

About the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (Metro Water District)

The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District is dedicated to developing comprehensive regional and watershed-specific water resources plans to be implemented by local governments in the 15-county metro Atlanta region, which includes Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Paulding and Rockdale counties. These plans conserve public water supplies, protect water quality and recreational value of the waters and help minimize potential adverse impacts of development on waters in and downstream of the region.

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