Thank you for your input
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget with its contractor, the UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government Applied Demography Program, is in the process of revising the state population projections. We greatly appreciate your input and the information you provided through the water planning consultants, EPD, or other channels.
To date, we have received over 400 correspondences that are greatly informing our revisions to the June 2009 preliminary projections. We have determined that the population projection model OPB will use will not include the employment factors as was initially presented in the preliminary scenario provided to the water councils.
We are mindful of the various local factors that will impact water resources. The OPB population projections will establish a baseline of residential population, meaning the people who live in the county year round. The residential population projections take into account the number of people living in homes, apartments, dorms, prisons, nursing homes and other group quarters.
OPB’s state population projections will continue to be used for a variety of state planning purposes including water planning. As you are fully aware, when projecting future water demand, water planners will need to take into account other human factors - beyond residential population. These factors include water users such as tourists, seasonal residents, and the day-time population. These considerations, rather than affecting the baseline residential population projection, will be reflected in adjustments that planners will make as they develop municipal, industrial, and commercial water and wastewater demand forecasts.
Gathering local knowledge is critical to quality population projections. We greatly appreciate your specific input that will improve these projections.
David Tanner
Governor's Office of Planning and Budget
270 Washington Street
Atlanta, GA 30334
404-656-7950
Warren A. Brown
Carl Vinson Institute of Government
201 N. Milledge Ave.
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-5482