I heard they might do it but did not see the announcement. I'm pretty much compling anyway. Watering during the day is fruitless anyway.

I wish it would rain.

I hope commercial properties have to comply. Their sprinklers are always going off!

We could really use that 22 billion gallons of water that the Army Corps of Engineers "accidentally" sent down to Florida about now !!! 118 days would certainly get us through the worst of this.

Today's paper says Dekalb joins the "ban-wagon". Only grey water can be used for outside watering in Dekalb.

DeKalb's joining the bandwagon with gray water outdoor use only? How did it get that bad that fast? It's beginning to sound like one of those "politically correct" things to do, regardless of whether it's absolutely necessary or not.

Well, I think the lack of rain has caused the whole area to run out of supplies. And when the water pressure gets low, then they have trouble even supplying what water they have.

Also several articles pointed out that people are not complying with the state wide ban and are actually using more water than usual in a panic. For example they say that DeKalb's normal average is 90 million gallons a day but currently the demand is 100 million.

'Course it couldn't help that it's 103F(!!!) at least here in Athens today. Good thing I watered early this morning!

People are using more water because it hasn't rained in weeks. Lawns are frying.

I drive over the lake everyday and it is incredible how low it is. Not as bad as 2001-2002 yet.

Cherokee County ban is over. We can go back to every other day now, but we have to observe the hourly restrictions, of course. And nobody waters on Friday ....

I understand sacrificing lawn, annuals and perennials during a crought. But I think of trees and shrubs as strategic resources - shade, cover for wildlife, and food for birds. I also understand that it would be difficult to enforce once-a-week watering on a day of one's choice (you don't want everyone watering on the same day for water pressure reasons).

If I were doing this, I would designate a 3-week trial period where the county has to get down to xx/gallons/day on a voluntary basis. Publish suggestions on how to reduce water consumption, and let people choose - fewer or shorter showers, showers instead of baths, wash the car less, give up a portion of a garden to save another, etc. If people can keep that up, well & good. If not, then go to mandatory restrictions. In fact, I am going to suggest this to my DeKalb Co. Commissioner. If we have to be on such draconian measures without warning, something is wrong aside from just an Army Corps of Engineers screw up with Lake Lanier (and did you see that a court ordered the Corps to release MORE water to FL? Evidently the court doesn't think Georgia's situation is so dire).

I mentioned to someone last night (while discussing Atlanta's total watering ban now) that my New Yorker son had told me he read about rainfall patterns being affected by car pollution. Today I looked it up online and sure enough, there are actual studies proving it. Look it up on wikipedia, to start, or just type in rainfall patterns and car emissions or pollution for a google search.

Yes, something IS wrong, more than just the Army Corps of Engineers screwing up Lake Lanier. It's called global warming; it's called pollution; it's called the destruction of our natural environment.

What aggravates me the most is that businesses like car washes and golf courses can use up all the water they want, but I can't water the vegetables in our community garden which needs to feed senior citizens (not to mention ME!) Landscaping should be the least of our worries, but I agree that trees, shade, and cover for wildlife are crucial.

We'll all get serious about this and give up our lawns when our children and grandchildren are going to the hospital dehydraded and even starving, like other countries are already experiencing due to extreme drought. I hope I don't live to see the day, but I'm afraid my sons will. Meanwhile, can't we at least seriously consider public transportation? (and I can't talk; I drive a car to work.)

Most commercial car washes recycle water. And what do you suggest instead of a lawn? Concrete?

How 'bout pea gravel for that Death Valley look? Just kidding.

Lawns - not the chemicals that are put on lawns - but lawns, are good for the environment. They are good at filtering pollutants out of water before it returns to aquifers. They are a great groundcover for controlling erosion. Over the years they contribute a lot of organic matter to soil and reduce its compaction (I'm thinking this takes a lot of years in Georgia). Like all other green plants, they take in carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. They trap dust particles in the air and break them down into the soil. Grass is our friend.
Sorry to hijack the watering restrictions thread with a riff on grass. I'll be quiet now.

no, I agree with you SH. Of course it would be nice if our lovely HOAs would let us have meadows in the front instead of nicely manicured lawns. I've tried to let as much of my yard 'go natural' as I can.

The same people yelling at us to conserve water are the ones who give these builders carte blance to scalp all the land and not leave on litte tree behind. Why do they do that. Don't they know that homeowners will pay more for a wooded lot?????

westender, food gardens are exempt from the restrictions, according to the EPD anyway. i don't know if your local regs are allowed to ban that. i just double-checked on the website, so I'm sure.

lawns ARE pretty.....let's have ONE per neighborhood for all the kids to play on, and let me have my riot of cottage garden. 'course, right now only a drough-tolerant cottage garden would look like anything except a draggled heap....