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Reducing Water Use: Tips for All Sectors
The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District has over 4 million citizens who all use water in a variety of ways. The tips in the AVAILABLE PDF highlight ways to reduce water use in homes, businesses and industries.
The topics include:
- Residential Homes
- Commercial and Municipal Buildings
- Restaurants and Commercial Kitchens
- Laundry Facilities and Linen Suppliers
- Healthcare Facilities
- Water Utilities
For more information on water conservation and ways to reduce water use, visit the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District online at www.northgeorgiawater.org
Georgia and Climate Change
By Dan Reuter
Georgia has grown and benefited from automobile dependent development for over 40 years. The Georgia economy, communities and jobs for citizens have expanded. However, the evidence, data and research has reached a crescendo that Georgia’s development patterns, automobile dependence and emissions will have a detrimental impact on our future. While individuals and organizations in the U.S. argue the legitimacy of climate change science, many countries of the developed world support the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (www.ipcc.ch/). This is evidenced by the 130 countries contributing to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report over the previous 6 years including more than 2500 scientific expert reviewers, 850 contributing authors and 450 lead authors.
Climate change is not a political partisan issue. A large number of Fortune 500 companies, major organizations, local and state governments are moving quickly to address climate change. The reasons for action are many: concern for climate impacts including future droughts and water availability; economic development impacts; energy price volatility; energy independence; air quality, traffic congestion and health concerns.
According to a new study, Georgia and other southern states are among the worst in the U.S. in creating development patterns that result in greenhouse gases. A new study by the Urban Land Institute (the nations leading real estate developer organization), Smart Growth America and other organizations has summarized research and determined development patterns supported by governments and the resulting traffic patterns are a major contributor to climate change. See the report titled “Growing Cooler - Less auto-dependent development is key to mitigating climate change” at www.smartgrowthamerica.org Other organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council have determined that climate change improvements related to development patterns can be influenced by local and state governments in three primary ways: cleaner fuels, cleaner vehicles and regulations that ensure more efficient development patterns.
Georgia can no longer ignore that our own low-density development patterns are a major problem for our state’s future, health, safety and welfare. Cities for Climate Protection is an organization seeking to help local governments with improving greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement is another program that more than 600 Mayors have endorsed.
With declining federal revenue for transportation improvements, the need to prioritize based on economic and fiscally sustainable measures has greater urgency. One concern for global warming that is receiving more urgent study in recent months is the impact on future water availability. For these reasons, it seems evident that even in Georgia citizens and elected officials will eventually seek for programs, land use or zoning changes and transportation improvements to be evaluated with regard to the impact on development patterns. While density is considered a four letter word by many citizens, the fact is that Georgia needs more density, particularly close to jobs in the coming decades. When the choice becomes density or water availability and new jobs, the scale may appear more balanced.
Georgia cities and counties may already be a decade behind other states with regard to responding to the challenges of climate change. While often questioned, the fact is that the Georgia Constitution provides substantial land use authority to local governments to guide future development. More mixed use development, more residential density close to jobs and services, more transit and alternative modes, cleaner vehicles and fewer transportation improvements that lead to inefficient low-density development patterns will begin to change Georgia’s outlook with regard to climate change.
GPA Divisions Forum
The Georgia Chapter of the American Planning Association represents professionals, public officials and citizen planners with a wide diversity of planning focus. To better serve our membership, the GPA Board has established a mechanism to encourage more communication between members of similar interests. We would request that all members see the new GPA Divisions Page (under “Resources”) and sign up for one or more of the (9) newly established GPA “Divisions”.
Divisions include Zoning Administration, Diversity in Planning, Economic Development, Environment, Natural Resources and Energy, Information Technology, Small Town and Rural Planning, Transportation Planning, Urban Design and Preservation, and Housing and Community Development. Creating an account will allow you to receive information on resources and to monitor and participate in discussions of particular relevance to your interest in planning.
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