Rome Has Plenty of Water

The Environmental protection division released a list of the cities that decreased water use by 10 percent. Rome, as predicted by local city officials, didn’t make the cut.

Rome’s Water Department director, Lee Ross, said Rome doesn’t have a water problem and shouldn’t have to cut back.

"I think Rome’s major issue is that we feel like we shouldn't be in the level four district, we feel like we're in no different situation than the City of Macon," said Ross.

Ross said Rome returns, more than half of the water taken out of the Etowah River, the most of any city in North Georgia.

Drought Affecting Rome's Ability to Pay

The City of Rome may not be able to pay their bills if it abides by the 10% cut in water consumption asked for by Governor Perdue. Rome has spent the last three years updating its water treatment plant. This process racked up 40 million dollars worth of debt, which is paid in most part, by citizen’s water bills. To scale back 10% is about a million gallons of water the city won’t make money on.

The Director of Rome’s Water and Sewer Department, Lee Ross, says something has to give.

"We would not be able to meet our fixed costs and our debt payment with out making some severe changes to the way we operate or to our rate structure."

As of now, Rome uses a little more than eight million gallons of water a day, six of which is returned to the Etowah River.