Walton County's water use

We were all quick to throw Walton County under bus for its need to buy an additional 500,000 gallons of water per day from a variety of local counties and/or entities.

Well, we probably shouldn't have necessarily thrown them under, but a gentle nudge into traffic might have been more appropriate.

If you take a look at the June 2009 water use data for Georgia's water basins, we find that Walton County has actually been fairly mild in its increase in consumption. Of the four facilities being monitored, the highest percentage increase was a 14.2 percent jump by Monroe.

However, there's always a little more to the story. In June 2009, Monroe is using more water than it did in June 2007 - 12.2 percent more - suggesting the conservation habits haven't stuck in that community. In fact, Monroe only reduced its usage from 2.29 million gallons per day in 2007 to 2.25 million gallons per day during the peak of the drought and restrictions last year, while, during the same time frame, the Walton County Water Authority only went down from 4.8 million gallons per day to 4.05 million gallons per day.

This suggests, then, that Walton County didn't undertake the same measures to reduce its water consumption as its neighbors did, including the neighbors its now having to buy water from.

By contrast, Athens-Clarke County is consuming 19.5 percent less water in June 2009 compared to June 2007, while Oconee County is down 22.5 percent during the same time frame.