Thursday, July 21, 2011
Guv'ment / Enviro Atlanta's rainwater harvesting ordinance gets hearing tonight
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 8:45 AM
A measure that could help Atlantans save water gets its first public hearing tonight at City Hall. Ken Edelstein runs down the specifics — and touches on why the city's proposal, which could become the model for other cities, could cause some controversy. (Here's a PDF of the proposed ordinance here.) Via Green Building Chronicle:
A proposed ordinance developed by advocates and city officials seeks to establish fees on “potable rainwater catchment systems for residential use.” In other words, it wouldn’t apply to the barrels and tanks that many homeowners have installed over the last decade to supply water for their gardens and lawns. Those systems would remain free from fees and regulation.What the ordinance would do is set up a permitting system to treat rainwater and to use it inside the house. The potentially controversial part regards what happens next: Household water must then be disposed of through the sewers and treated as wastewater, which means there’s a public cost.
In Atlanta, as well as other municipalities in Georgia, potable rainwater systems currently live in a sort of purgatory: They’re not illegal to install, but there’s no permitting system that allows them to be operated.
The fun starts at 6 p.m. in the Atlanta City Council's Chambers.
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