After months of warning customers not to water their lawns due to the drought, the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority has changed course.
It not only allows the watering of yards, but encourages it. In fact, officials are all but begging their customers to turn on their sprinklers.
Recovery of the Bear Creek Reservoir, extremely effective conservation measures and cash flow problems from lack of water sales all contribute to the reversal.
On July 1, the authority got the go-ahead from the Environmental Protection Division to reduce the level four water restrictions that had been in place since last fall. The EPD gave approval for lawn watering one day a week.
Water sales promptly dropped by 300,000 gallons a day. If that trend continues, it will cost the authority about $35,000 a month in revenue it desperately needs.
The county’s major water supplier is at a loss for an explanation.
“I came across a landscaper who didn’t know he could water,” noted Chairman Hunter Bicknell at a called meeting of the authority July 17. “If a landscaper is not aware, then the word is not getting out.”
When You Can Water
The following schedule provides for one-day-a-week watering of yards and landscapes for customers of the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority. It is based on the last digit of the property’s address.
Watering with sprinklers and irrigation systems is permissible from midnight to 10 a.m. the appropriate days.
Address Day
0-1 Mondays
2-3 Tuesdays
4-5 Wednesdays
6-7 Thursdays
8-9 Fridays
Bear creek is full, the City of Commerce reservoir is full. If you don't use it in northeast georgia somebody downstream will.