EPD Demotes Drought Response to Level 1

March 15, 2017

Conditions in Heard County have improved, and the Drought Response has been changed from a Level 2 to Level 1. Under a Level 1 Drought Response, this schedule allows outdoor water use year-round between 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m.

There are no restrictions on the following:

• Commercial agricultural operations as defined in Code Section 1-3-3

• Irrigation of personal food gardens;

• Irrigation of new and replanted plant, seed, or turf in landscapes, golf   courses, or sports turf fields during installation and for a period of 30 days immediately following the date of installation;

• Drip irrigation or irrigation using soaker hoses;

• Hand watering with a hose with automatic cutoff or handheld container;

• Use of water withdrawn from private water wells or surface water by an owner or operator of property if such well or surface water is on said property;

• Irrigation of horticultural crops held for sale, resale, or installation;

• Irrigation of athletic fields, golf courses, or public turf grass recreational areas

• Installation, maintenance, or calibration of irrigation systems.

Everyone is encouraged to continue practicing water conservation.

More water conservation information is available at:

http://epd.georgia.gov/water-conservation.

Who We Are

An act of the Georgia General Assembly created the Franklin-Heard County Water Authority on February 6, 1984. This act was amended to change the name of the Authority to the Heard County Water Authority was approved March 22, 1989. The Heard County Water Authority is not a department of the Heard County but an independent authority. The five person Board is comprised of two members appointed by the City of Franklin, two appointed by the Heard County Board of Commissioners, and one member is elected by the four current HCWA Board members. The Board serves for 4 years and the terms are staggered.  The reason behind utility authorities being created by the State of Georgia Legislature was to keep local politics out of the decision making process for rates and other matter with regard to the operation of a utility.