Posted on: January 30, 2023
Note: The following post’s content was developed by Katherine Zitsch, Director, Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District.
Recent data from Flume Data Labs (external link) show that metro Atlanta remains a national leader on residential water use efficiency. Before diving into the most recent water data, it is important to understand some recent history:
- In 2001, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (external link) was formed, launching a new era of coordinated water planning, conservation, and efficiency requirements across the entire metro Atlanta region.
- Georgia built on this in 2010 with the Georgia Water Stewardship Act (external link). Hailed as “landmark” water conservation legislation by the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the Act improved the water efficiency of new and renovated homes through changes to the plumbing code, among other things.
- In January 2023, the Alliance for Water Efficiency (external link) and the non-partisan Environmental Law Institute issued a report card (external link) ranking states based on their water conservation and efficiency. Georgia received the highest grade of any state east of the Mississippi and scored 5th best in the nation.
- In 2022, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District received its fifth US EPA WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award (external link) for its work promoting water efficiency in metro Atlanta. This is the eighth consecutive year the EPA has recognized the District for promoting WaterSense and water efficiency.
Our successes are confirmed by objective, third-party data examining water use in the largest metro areas in the United States. Indeed, data from Flume Data Labs show that metro Atlanta is one of the most efficient in terms of household water use of the 15 largest metro areas in the United States. These data are gathered from households that have installed Flume Smart Home Water Monitors and answered questionnaires about their households.
For indoor water use, Atlanta was the most efficient metro area in the third quarter of 2022, as shown below in a presentation compiled by Flume Data Labs:
In terms of outdoor water use, Atlanta was the third most efficient metro area behind only Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, both of which have shorter landscape growing seasons compared to Atlanta. The following slide illustrates these data and is taken from the same presentation from Flume Data Labs:
While we’re proud of what we’ve achieved, our water conservation and efficiency work continues. The Metro District adopted a new water plan (external link) in December 2022. Among other things, this plan refined plumbing codes to increase water conservation and efficiency across metro Atlanta. For more information on the Metro District, visit www.northgeorgiawater.org (external link).
