Carpet Makers Look for Ways To Conserve Water

Atlanta, GA, December 7, 2007—Georgia's water crisis is motivating the state's carpet producers to find more ways to conserve water. But some companies have been at it for many years.

Milliken's carpet operation in Troup County uses over a million gallons of water a day, but that's less than half the amount it used a few years ago.

"Our goal over the next three years is to be half of what we are today,” says Milliken's Bill Gregory told an Atlanta television station. “

At Milliken, all of the excess water used in carpet dyeing is recycled.

Georgia’s carpet industry contributes $186 million each year to Georgia’s economy and it supplies 85-percent of the nation’s carpets.

"Some facilities have been working on this for years, and have made a lot of overall environmental improvements.” Sarah Dearman of the DNR.’s Pollution Prevention Assistance Division, the group working on water conservation, told the station. “Some are just beginning to make those improvements now."