If you're reading this between 10 a.m. and midnight or on a day you're not supposed to water outdoors, you might want to run outside and turn off the sprinkler.

Columbia County officials say they're checking closely on those who might be violating the state's outdoor watering rules. Anyone caught after a warning will find themselves without water, not only for their grass but also for themselves.

"We've handed out a lot of warnings, and on the second go-around water will be disconnected and there will be fees ... no question about that," said Billy Clayton, the county's waterworks director. He said a $30 fee must be paid to have residential water turned back on.

Since dry conditions began, Mr. Clayton said, his department has handed out about 400 warnings to residents watering improperly.

In Columbia and Richmond counties, outdoor watering is allowed from midnight to 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for those with even-numbered addresses and Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for those at odd-numbered addresses. No watering is allowed Mondays.

Augusta Utilities Director Max Hicks said most of the violations of the state-mandated restrictions are by residents watering after 10 a.m., particularly around sundown.

He said there have been only a few complaints of people watering on the wrong days, other than some businesses and schools. Most of the 32 complaints the city has received in recent weeks have been about violations of watering hours, he said.

When complaints are made, officials call the violators if possible and notify them first, then send them a letter and make a note of the violation on the water bill.

On a second violation, violators are charged $25, and on the third violation, their water is cut off, Mr. Hicks said. Water officials also have an option of issuing a citation to appear in Magistrate Court.

Mr. Clayton said those who don't have sprinkler systems on timers and those who find the watering hours cumbersome can keep their grass in survival mode by watering one day a week.

"Right now, what we should be thinking about is just protecting our investment until we get through this pattern," Mr. Clayton said. "(Watering one day a week) is absolutely the best scenario. Make it stress for the six days, and then, when you water it, water it really good."

Mr. Clayton said Columbia County has seen water demand peak so far at 28 million gallons, "but our average flow is running up in that 20, 22 million gallons a day," he said.

He said the need to conserve in a time of drought is crucial.

"People don't tend to understand a drought as they do a flood," Mr. Clayton said. "It just doesn't dawn on folks that a drought is a weather calamity, and we are in the middle of another drought."

As of Thursday, the Augusta area had received 11.51 inches of rain for the year, which is nearly 7 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service in West Columbia, S.C. Leonard Vaughan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said the next best chance for rain won't come until late next week.

He said if no more rain falls this month, May would be the 10th driest on record dating back to 1892.