North Carolina's dry heaves.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CAPITALGOODS

Landscapers and lawn-care companies feel picked on these days. They really shouldn't. They may soon have plenty of company when it comes to how water, or the lack thereof, affects businesses in North Carolina.

The ongoing drought, and local water suppliers' response to it, obviously has been the big problem for landscapers. Outdoor watering restrictions, most prevalent in the Piedmont, have caused landscapers to lay off 30% of their more than 150,000 workers statewide, according to an industry estimate. Their plight has led many to complain that other businesses, from soft-drink bottlers to Duke Energy, haven't been forced to cut back usage while landscapers and their customers have been required to halt watering in some cities. Then again, no one ever froze to death because of a brown lawn.

But the reason landscapers won't be the only ones singing the low-water blues is that state policymakers are beginning to look beyond this drought--which eventually will end, hopefully sooner rather than later. Leaders have started thinking about how North Carolina will manage water in the face of growth that is expected to push the population to 12 million people, nearly a 50% increase, by 2030. Even before the drought was in full swing, state legislators were planning a long-term study to examine water-allocation issues. It likely will be another year before the study is complete, and then we'll have to see where political will and political reality meet. But based on the response to the drought and a few other clues, some indicators of what might be in store already are out there.

Some potential changes--such as more interconnections of water systems and incentives or even mandates designed to bring about larger, regional systems--won't have a direct, immediate impact on most businesses. But Sen. Dan Clodfelter believes that larger, more efficient water utilities are critical for North Carolina to continue to grow and to thrive. The Charlotte Democrat, who co-chairs the Environmental Review Commission, says he doubts that his hometown would be the economic engine it is today without the foresight of local leaders in the 1950s who created a regional water-and-sewer system.

"If you were starting from scratch now, you'd never duplicate what you have now," Clodfelter says. "If everyone who wants to fly a plane tried to build an airport, no one would be able to afford to fly. A resource requires a certain amount of efficiency. But with water, that's not...