Coweta's

water customers are obeying the watering ban...so far.

That's the

word from water director Harry Hughes, who is monitoring

how law-abiding the residents are during this drought.

"We

haven't had to turn anybody's water off yet," he

said.

The state

EPD made the ban stricter this week by telling residents

in the Atlanta region that outdoor watering could only

occur on an odd-even basis, based on your home's address.

The EPD

also added private wells to the watering ban, which

brings many more residents under the water restrictions.

"We've

had a few episodes where people weren't happy, but

overall it's been a good response to the ban,"

Hughes added.

Coweta's

water usage was 7.5 million gallons Wednesday, which is

down from its peak usage of 11 million gallons in May, he

added.

The only

problems the water system has had was when the ban first

went into effect last week. Hughes said officials

monitoring the system started noticing pressure drops at

10 p.m. when residents started watering. It took the

system until the early morning hours to build back the

pressure.

"The

odd-even system should put a stop to that," he said.

Hughes

plans to keep monitoring the situation and is hoping for

several days of rain to help the water-parched region.