North Carolina landscapers and irrigation professionals are fighting back against water restrictions they say threaten to put them out of business. Water limits have caused layoffs of 30 percent of the sector?EUR??,,????'?????<

Many businesses will fold, the group says, if conservation rules get tougher.

Landscapers say they will ask Charlotte City Council for relief. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities says it will stand firm on its restrictions.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities banned lawn watering and the use of sprinklers Sept. 26, in the midst of the fall planting season.

Landscapers Unfairly Targeted?

As a Fort Mill, S.C., council member, Ken Starnes voted for water restrictions in late 2007. As owner of Shamrock Landscaping, such restrictions cost him half his business and 18 of 100 employees who were laid off or quit over shortened hours.

He regrets his vote now.

Mecklenburg County landscape businesses claim the county?EUR??,,????'?????<

The utility may grant exceptions, but only when lenders require new landscaping as a condition of closing the sale of new homes.

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Business Down 40 Percent

Maeneen Klein, the utility?EUR??,,????'?????<

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A study last year by N.C. State University found that the state?EUR??,,????'?????<

Source: Charlotte (N.C.) Observer