A couple of days ago, I mentioned the homeowner in drought-stricken Cobb County, Georgia who uses as much water as 60 average households.
The New York Times has passed along additional information about what was taking place:
The furor led Mr. Carlos to refer all inquiries to a public relations specialist, Joseph M. A. Ledlie, who said Wednesday that Mr. Carlos had only recently become aware of the severity of the water crisis and was now taking steps to conserve.
Mr. Ledlie said his client had cut water use by 73 percent from September to October and had vowed to work with water experts to cut it still further. Indeed, Mr. Quigley, the water system’s spokesman, said that for the last six days, Mr. Carlos had used an average of 2,000 gallons a day, which, at a rate of 60,000 gallons a month, is about 10 times the average for a Cobb County household but quite a reduction for Mr. Carlos.[...]
Many fellow homeowners say they do not see how Mr. Carlos could have missed news of the drought. But while he seems to have run afoul of public opinion, Mr. Quigley is quick to point out that he has broken no laws. An exception to mandatory restrictions that Cobb County has adopted on outdoor water use allows licensed professional landscapers to water new plantings for 15 days after installation.
“We understand that Mr. Carlos had engaged full-time landscaping services” in which planting was occurring continuously, in exploitation of the loophole, Mr. Quigley said.
I’m still amazed at the level of water use…and I’m also kind of curious about the extent of the landscaping that that amount of watering would support.