Water conservation still promoted

Four months into 2009, regional rainfall totals are close to normal, and watering restrictions remain voluntary in the city of Aiken.

The city of Aiken's previous guideline of odd addresses watering on odd days and even addresses doing so on even days is no longer in effect. State officials took the county off its drought-monitor list a couple of weeks ago, said Larry Morris, the city's Public Works Administration and Engineering director.

"We really have no restrictions," he said.

Still, Mr. Morris said, the city is asking residents to be mindful of their water usage. He said people really only need to water their lawns every three days, asking that residents turn off sprinklers when it's raining.

There are more defined guidelines in Columbia and Richmond counties, and officials say they don't anticipate changing them anytime soon.

"I do not see that changing unless we were to get a lot of rain over a longer period of time," Billy Clayton, the director of Columbia County's Water and Sewerage services, said.

According to a long-range outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there's an equal chance of above- or below-normal precipitation for the Augusta area this summer.

"The outdoor watering curtailment is a mandated requirement from the Georgia EPD," said Augusta Utilities Interim Director Drew Goins. "Only they can relax the conditions. To date, we have not heard of any word from EPD about relaxing the conditions."