A month after the climatologists said that the North Georgia drought was over, the state Environmental Protection Division has caught up. As of today, most watering restrictions have been lifted throughout the region. You are still limited to watering on your assigned odd-even days, either Monday, Wednesday and Saturday or Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, but you can water any time you like.

The EPD does recommend that you not water between 10 AM and 4 PM, since during those hours more water can be lost to evaporation, making watering less useful. This is a return to level one watering restrictions. Level two restrictions, which we were under for much of 2007, limited watering to between midnight and 10 AM. We never were subjected to level 3 restrictions, which would have limited watering to a single day a week.

Before you turn on those sprinklers full blast, though, be aware that water rates have changed since the last time we were drought free. The big change is a summer surcharge for excessive water use. For example, in Gwinnett County, you could pay twice the normal rate per 1,000 gallons for amounts above 20% of your average use from January through March.

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Two years ago, on April 7th, Atlanta temperatures dropped to 30 degrees in the city and 28 degrees here in Lawrenceville in an event known as the Easter Freeze. We might just be in for a repeat this year, to the day.

After today’s rain moves out overnight, we’ll see some sunny weather this weekend, until another cold front passes Sunday night or Monday morning. Behind that front will be some cold Canadian air which could drop temperatures into the 20s Tuesday morning, April 7th. Of course, a lot could change by Tuesday, but I would still hold off on planting annuals for another week or two.

Atlanta ended up with 7.13 inches of rain in March, not enough to make the top ten in terms of rainfall, but almost two inches above normal. While Tuesday’s AJC front page headline shouted “Area’s historic drought is now over,” WXIA’s story had the more telling headline, “Climate Drought Over, But Political Drought Still On.” The bottom line is that level 4 watering restrictions in much of the metro Atlanta area won’t be lifted until we see four months of normal or above normal rainfall, with March counting as the first month. Keep your eye on the water level in Lake Lanier, which has risen almost two feet since the late March rains began, and now stands at 1060.94 feet, still 10 feet below normal summer pool. Increasing that level becomes more difficult, first because since the lake doesn’t have vertical sides like a swimming pool, each additional inch of rise requires more water, and second because as temperatures warm and trees leaf out, there will be less runoff into the lake.

We’ve already gotten a good start on the proverbial April showers, though. I’ve recorded 1.22 inches of rain through this morning for the month, and normal April rain is 3.62 inches. The Climate Prediction Center has revised their precipitation outlook for April as well. Here is what they though was going to happen in their initial outlook back on March 19th:

As you can see, the outlook was for continued dry weather in the southeast. Now take a look at the revised outlook from March 31st:

It’s quite a change. The latest 6-10 and 8-114 day outlooks are also calling for a greater chance of above-normal rainfall through the middle of the month. The latest national drought outlook for April-May shows no drought in most of Georgia, and improving conditions in the the remaining eastern part of the state.

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Temperatures over the last few days have been 10 to 15 degrees above normal for this time of year. In the ‘typical’ early March, we’d be seeing a high of 63 and a low of 42. Things are about to switch around closer to normal, and then below normal for next week.

High pressure centered over south Georgia has provided the warm temperatures, and has blocked the colder temperatures and storms to the north from moving south. As the high pressure weakens on Wednesday, a cold front will sweep through, and by Thursday, temperatures will be noticeably cooler. By the weekend, wedging sets up, which will bring cloudy, cool damp weather to Atlanta and North Georgia.

All of this may clear out with a cold front coming through on Sunday, and after that, one more round of cold weather, with temperatures dropping below freezing after St. Patrick’s Day. It’s too early to know how cold it will get, but I hope you took my advice from last week to not put out any annuals. Both the 6-10 and 8-14 day forecasts call for colder than normal temperatures for much of the eastern US, and wetter than normal conditions for the southeast, especially early in the period.

Will next week’s cold weather be the last blast of Winter? In 2008, the last below freezing night was on March 25th, but in 2007, a late freeze in early April ruined the spring flower show.

Drought Update

Last week, the Georgia EPD announced that drought watering restrictions had been further reduced. Homeowners and businesses will now be allowed to use soaker hoses or drip irrigation three days per week for one hour per day, following the customary odd-even, midnight to 10 AM schedule previously used for hand watering. Hand watering will continue to be allowed for 25 minutes per day on the odd-even schedule.

The state’s intent here is to provide a means for homeowners to water shrubs and trees, rather than lawns. In face, lawns are specifically excluded from the EPD’s order (PDF). The interesting thing is that there’s no limit to the amount of soaker hose or drip irrigation that can be used – only a limit on the number of hours the system can run. The recommendation is that each soaker hose should be no more than 100 feet long, but by investing in a few of them, and possibly some faucet Ys, even someone with lots of landscape plants should be able to better this year than last.

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You may have had heard two pieces of news regarding the drought, and the Atlanta area’s ability to take water from Lake Lanier. The first bit of news is that the metro area has managed to reduce its water use by 20% in June, compared to June 2007. In Gwinnett, recent usage amounts to 77 million gallons per day, compared to 88 MGD a year ago.

While the reduced use probably mostly comes from the outdoor watering ban imposed last fall and modified this spring, it’s still remarkable that Georgians have responded to the crisis as well as they have. Another article I read says that it took residents of Cary, NC 11 years to reduce consumption by 15% in 11 years, and Tampa Bay reduced consumption by 26% in 12 years.

Realistically, though, a more or less total watering ban isn’t going to be a long-term solution to conserving water, unless we want to sacrifice the quality of life afforded by trees, grass and landscaping. More efficient toilets and appliances, less waste through leaky pipes and other techniques will need to be employed to reduce consumption while allowing conservative outdoor use, and that indeed could take years to complete.

The other major story in the news is a promise by a Federal judge that he will decide if Georgia (and the Atlanta area in particular) has the right to withdraw water from Lake Lanier. He views that question as central to coming up with answers to the ongoing water wars between Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

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As of today, Gwinnett County further relaxed its previous watering restrictions, which were modified on the first of April.  The county’s restrictions now match the state’s restrictions.

The big change is that you can now water newly installed landscaping (whether you install it or a professional installs it) for 10 weeks following installation 3 days per week, following the odd-even watering day rule.  Homeowners with an even address can water on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, while odd numbered addresses can water on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.  No watering is permitted in Friday. You will also need to register with the Urban Agriculture Council and take a short online course on proper watering procedures.  The printable certificate you receive after passing the course must be posted outside your home.

The previous restrictions allowing filling of pools and hand-watering of any plants for 25 minutes on the odd-even schedule remain in place.

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