Atlanta Water Shortage

(via 11Alive)  For reasons blamed on the drought and water restrictions, Pike Family Nurseries has filed for bankruptcy.

They have secured $11.75 million in financing to help operate and they expect no disruptions to their nusery operations and customer service.

According to an article on 11Alive.com, the drought has already cost landscapers and related industries a total of 13,000 jobs.  Add to that an article about Jackson county cutting off water for local businesses, and the situation seems even worse.

However, the Jackson county situation is kind of confusing.  The article begins with “Businesses that were once exempt from Jackson County’s outdoor watering ban have been told they’ll have to turn off the taps as of next Wednesday.“   By the end, though, it says “If a business can prove its survival depends on watering outdoors, county commissioners may allow them to keep watering on a case by case basis.”

It seems to me that if a business was already exempt from the watering ban, they should be able to prove that they need it, thus making this new “ban” not very effective.  However, this situation could get really ugly in future weeks as those “case by case” situations start getting snubbed out in the interest of conservation.

For example, the car wash dilemma is a tough one for me.  On one hand, I see no reason that people should be wasting water washing their cars.  On the other hand, there are a lot of Atlantans involved with the hundreds of car wash businesses around the city and I’d hate to see them all unemployed.  The next few weeks/months should be very interesting.