The worrying about pools opening or not is based on this document I believe. If already installed pools are emptied, they will collapse, non? So isn’t this a loophole?
Have just emailed AJC re: an article posted 1/30/08 stating a bill has been passed to allow pools to open…

It is arbitrary and unjust that outdoor pools be restricted. What about swim teams? Let’s stop watering the football fields and see what happens.

Most all families utilize a pool each summer because it benefits one personal budget. Many pay large annual homeowner fees for the purpose of having recreational facilities available.
Pools are the right place @ the right price to release energy, get necessary Vitamin D (provided by sunlight-etc.) Without it you’re looking at a monster financially. Kids will be draining their parents pocketbooks in search of alternate entertainment.

My point is know what you are doing. Know the magnitude of stripping children from this resource they have worked & looked forward to their entire school year. Know that it is bigger than just looking for an outlet for conserving water. Have we asked ourselves if we took one too many bath just because we had sore muscles & it felt good? Do we leave the water running to brush our teeth just because we’ve gotten in the lazy habit of doing so? Do we wash just a few items rather than a full load we need because we forgot to throw in Johnny’s basketball jersey in the last load? Almost every household could admit to such things & could make a change if we put our minds to it.
Many adults that would pass such laws to ban pools may be the very ones that justify their golf course still operating which requires large amounts of daily watering to upkeep. How about pools at fancy hotels, health/country clubs that have operated as usual through out this drought. Oh & many could not imagine their babies not having the utmost regular care @ the car spa. If we admit it, this is the reality & we should exhaust all other sources rather than penalizing our local children.

It’s interesting that you immediately assumed I was referring to violence and crime in the inner city. I’m referring to it everywhere.

A month or so ago, 6 or 7 kids from Northview High School in Duluth (a wealthy surburb) got busted for breaking into cars and stealing property. This problem is not isolated to the inner city. It’s everywhere.

And I’m not saying that pools will solve that problem, but it definitely gives them a place to go that they can recreate with friends in a healthy environment, as opposed to concocting dangerous or illegal ways to pass the time.

And like here, they have also banned construction of new swimming pools. However, interestingly enough they have not banned the filling of existing swimming pools because they recognize the importance of this.

Where do you guys live anyway? Are you even in Atlanta?

From a number of the comments you’ve made on these posts, I don’t think so. It’s easy for you to analyze this situation from afar when it doesn’t affect you at all. In fact, you even seem to relish the difficult situation Atlantans are in.

This is not something caused by OUR fault. We (those of us posting here) are normal hard-working citizens than cannot control the weather nor the water policy. These are decisions we entrust to our government. Obviously, someone fell asleep at the wheel here to get us into this situation. Now we’re trying to make it right. But to do that, we need to have intelligent policy made by well-informed leaders.

When the current GA EPD drought management plan was being drafted 4-5 years ago, no one from the pool industry was involved. So pools got written into drought level 4 without any real thought or examination of the facts or implications. Now that this is the first time the drought plan has been enacted since it was drafted, there is massive confusion over how to interpret it. So it’s time to evaluate the plan and make suggestions to improve it.

But the “solution” you offer, of just “suck it up” and “deal with it,” implies that we somehow deserve this fate, which is totally absurd. Secondly, this kind of approach does not sovle any problem or help anyone.

Carol,

The fact that you work in public health only makes it all the more repugnant that you think West Nile is laughable. Can you explain that to the lady in this article?

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5324625

The CDC has article after article on their website warning people of the dangers of West Nile and how to protect yourself from it. Although this disease usually does not become life threatening, people die from it every year! And even in milder forms, it can make people very sick and it is a significant risk for elderly people. That doesn’t sound “laughable” to me.

Anyone who spends time around teenagers has enough common sense to observe that when they are not preoccupied with something constructive or have healthy recreational outlets, they have a tendency to get into trouble, particulary in the summer when they have ample free time on their hands. If pools remained closed, thousands of teens will be without jobs this summer, giving them more free time. I don’t have a scientific study on that, but it doesn’t take a genius to put 2 and 2 together.