Posted by Wendy Purser on November 27, 2008 at 9:30am
This is the time of year I start to watch the drought maps for my state. As the sites are generally updated twice a month or so to follow them can help determine when to contact local officials and discuss a range of topics. First of all it is important to have a clear understanding of what restrictions take place at each level of drought. Also, how you or the trade organization you belong to can work with the local officials to help provide education to the public on conservation methods and also the benefits of hardscaping their backyards. We need to be instrumental in what reaches the media. This is due to the fact that when a drought occurs the general public automatically believe they cannot fill a pool. This in turn stops the phones ringing for sales. In the current economy we must prevent this being added onto our burden of recovery from the past year. The previous drought, high fuel costs, and unstable stock market already has many closing their doors. You may go to the "US Drought Monitor" to see areas of US and then further into your state to see your situation.It is important to also know what your water basin is. This is due to the fact that you may have had plenty of rain in your local area but may be imposed drought regulations due to another area upstream from you being in an elevated drought stage.Georgia and NC Carolina worked hard this last year and much of the work is archived at APSP. What was found was that in attempting to mitigate the regulations and make reasonable changes it was very different for each state. Georgia was able to go to the GA legislators and make a change with the extremely hard work of dedicated individuals. It was also found that each water municipality can make their own rules without any reference to a national policy. So there may be as many or more than 100 water systems in an individual county. And you have to work within each water system. This takes a strong grass roots effort to get out a single message that resonates from all throughout the local water systems.Through APSP I was able to go to Georgia in November of 2007 and sit in on an APSP meeting to gather valuable information. When drought restrictions were imposed in NC we were prepared with a single message to send out to all of our members and the media immediately. In some areas it helped greatly, in some areas we are still fighting to install pools during drought. We all need to follow through on what was started last year. Just because the 2008 drought is over doesn't mean there won't be another. We need to be proactive for future events that could cause a delay or cease of work.
We should be pushing rain water reclamation, especially in the states with drought situations. This is a fairly inexpensive option and it can be used to both fill the pool or irrigate the lawn without waste.
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