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Committee advances House Bill 143 to streamline agricultural water metering
Summary
After testimony from Georgia Environmental Protection Division staff, a legislative committee voted to send House Bill 143 to the full committee. The bill clarifies who pays for water meters, reduces a backlog of compliance cases and allows limited EPD staff maintenance in emergencies.
A legislative committee voted to advance House Bill 143, which changes how agricultural groundwater metering is administered and enforced, after hearing detailed testimony from staff of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).
The bill’s sponsor and committee members said the measure is intended to reduce a growing backlog of compliance cases, protect the integrity of EPD’s metering data and give the division more flexibility to respond to sites that lack infrastructure. Jeff McCown, EPD director, and EPD staff described three primary changes HB 143 would make to the current metering program.
EPD staff member Margie said the bill would (1) clarify which party pays for meter installation based on the permit issue date — restoring state payment responsibility for permits issued before Feb. 2003 and leaving post‑Feb. 2003 permits as the permittee’s…
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