A frustrating analysis and criticism of the Atlanta drought situation and what should have/could have been done to prevent the situation.

Things that I was not aware of until reading this article:

• The drought is over a year old. Ask around and my guess is the average person only became aware of it in August or September, when things got really bad. If someone had mentioned something sooner, could we have helped prevent the situation?
• “Most golf courses are classified as “agricultural.”” Yet golf courses do not produce anything . . . I bet the boys at the club are laughing about that one.
• “Officials have little notion how to provide for a projected doubling of demand over the next 30 years.” A doubling of demand for water in Atlanta! Just how fast can they put up those town home complexes?
• “On Oct. 1, Stone Mountain Park began to make snow for a winter mountain, hoping to attract children who had not seen the real thing. The mountain was planned during the very wet summer of 2005, and the state and local governments were duly informed, said Christine Parker, a spokeswoman for the park.” First of all, why the hell would you build a mountain of snow when it is still 80 degrees outside? Wouldn’t it make more sense to do it in the winter, say “A White Christmas spectacular.” Secondly, why didn’t anyone at the park think, hey maybe we should hold off on this project until next year.

Does anyone have good suggestions as to how to reduce my own water usage? I don’t have a lawn, don’t regularly wash my car and now use only recycled water to water my one pot of plants. Any other suggestions or good references you can point me to?