News 12 at 6 o'clock--May 27, 2009

AUGUSTA--We have gotten a ton of rain over the last few weeks and that's made a lot of your yards green. Even with that extra rain, we are still in a drought.

That means you need to water efficiently and obey any watering restrictions that may still be in place.

We're only an inch below where we should be this time of year. But we are still in an overall drought over the past few years. And that means watering restrictions and water conservation should not be ignored.

Adrian Weaver takes his green thumb seriously. His back yard is filled with all sorts of great plants. And all the recent rain we've been getting has helped a lot.

"It's been a fantastic help" he exclaimed.

But he has had to do some watering on his own at times. Especially out front where he has some new sod.

"I water every third day. About 30 minutes a day" he explained.

But he waters the new stuff efficiently, making sure the sprinkler just gets to the areas he wants the water to reach.

We have gotten a lot of rain lately. And the lake levels at Clarks Hill are up. A lot more than last year. In fact, the lake levels are just about where they should be.

Seeing that may make you think that's a sign that the drought is done for good. But with dry months coming, things could slip back. It wouldn't take but a few rain-less months to make things look a lot different.

In Georgia, watering restrictions are still in place. They aren't in South Carolina, but water conservation is heavily encouraged there. You can do things like watering at cooler times of the day and using mulch around plants and trees.

For most of you in Georgia, here are the watering restrictions. Even numbered addresses may only water Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays midnight to 10 am.
Odd numbered addresses may water on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday between midnight and 10am.

There is no watering on Monday.