Encouraged by the replenishing rains, state environmental officials are set to decide today whether to relax water restrictions that banned most outdoor water use across north Georgia.
Just a year ago, about 60 percent of the state was locked in some sort of drought.
Federal forecasters now say the state has completely emerged from the drought, and that only a small pocket in northeast Georgia remains "abnormally dry."
Still, conservationists are concerned that if the state Drought Response Committee decides to ease or lift restrictions it will send the wrong message to water-conscious residents.
As the drought spread in late 2007, state environmental officials banned virtually all outdoor watering in the northern part of the state and ordered utilities in the area to reduce water use by 10 percent.
The requirements for the utilities were lifted as the drought began to ease, and state officials agreed to allow some counties that do not rely on Lake Lanier to get exemptions from some of the restrictions.
Georgia environmental officials have since allowed residents to fill outdoor swimming pools, hand-water plants for 25 minutes three days a week and use drip irrigation and soaker houses to maintain their yards.
Yet an order that bans most other outdoor watering across north Georgia and limits outdoor watering to three days a week throughout the rest of the state are still in place.
Labels: drought, georgia, lake lanier, outdoor watering, water restriction
