Officials urge conservation of water during drought

DeKalb County has issued lawn watering recommendations.

Continued dry and hot conditions may force metro Atlanta residents to scale back on watering their lawns, according to Channel 2 Action News.

“We need some rain,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said. “There’s really not any sustained days of rain for a while. So we’re going to have to continue to watch that.

“Many counties may have to start going to those odd/even watering days,” she added.

DeKalb County has already recommended that residents limit outdoor watering to the hours between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. to avoid the hottest part of the day and watering lawns according to the odd/even schedule outlined in the 2010 Georgia Water Stewardship Act, the Department of Watershed Management said.

Odd-numbered addresses are asked to water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Even-numbered and unnumbered addresses are asked to water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The changes haven’t been mandated at the state level, but the county is requesting residents follow it anyway because of dry conditions.

Most of Georgia is experiencing

abnormally dry conditions at best and an extreme drought at worst, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Much of metro Atlanta and northern corners of Georgia have remained in an extreme drought this month.

“And it’s expanding now,” Minton said. “It’s including parts of Hall County and over the Lake Lanier areas.”

When Lake Lanier, metro Atlanta’s main water source, is full, water stands at 1,071 feet. Water stood at 1,066.51 feet on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. That’s about the same level as it was last week (1,066.75 feet).