A homeowner in Marietta, Ga., used 440,000 gallons in September, or about 14,700 gallons a day. By comparison, the average consumption in the United States is about 150 gallons a day per person, and in the Atlanta metropolitan area about 183 gallons.

Month after month during a record-setting drought, the two-story, five-bedroom home owned by that consumer, Chris G. Carlos, a wealthy investor who is a member of one of Atlanta?EUR??,,????'???s most well known and philanthropic families, has topped Cobb County?EUR??,,????'???s list of residential users.

Robert Quigley, a spokesman for the Cobb County Water System, said Carlos had used an average of 260,000 gallons of water a month for the last year, about twice as much as the consumer next-highest on the county?EUR??,,????'???s list. Carlos has apparently been using the water not only to flush nine toilets and maintain a swimming pool but also to refresh nearly four acres of lush landscaping around his white-columned, red brick home.

When his consumption figures were disclosed by WSB-TV in Atlanta, there was an immediate outcry from other homeowners, thousands of whom have been trying to conserve in the face of a drought that is draining the region?EUR??,,????'???s reservoirs. Many are following state suggestions to reuse bath water to feed plants, or to flush toilets a bit less often.

?EUR??,,????'??We?EUR??,,????'???ve had a lot of people calling to gripe about this particular man,?EUR??,,????'?? said a woman who answered the phone for the Cobb County Water System. ?EUR??,,????'??He?EUR??,,????'???s not real popular right now.?EUR??,,????'??

The furor led Carlos to refer all inquiries to a public relations specialist, Joseph M. A. Ledlie, who said Carlos had only recently become aware of the severity of the water crisis and was now taking steps to conserve.

Source: New York Times