With the dog

days of summer just about outta here and a relatively wet summer at that

restrictions on outdoor watering might be the furthest thing from the

minds of most people.

But not Fayette

County's Water Committee. That's because new "voluntary" guidelines

on water restrictions have been recommended by the Georgia Environmental

Protection Division that would keep anyone from watering on Fridays.

That means

no lawn sprinklers, no car washing nothing.

Instead, residents

will be allowed to water on a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday schedule or a Saturday-Monday-Wednesday

schedule.

The now "voluntary"

guidelines could become permanent next spring as another layer of drought

prevention, and that has committee members worried.

Water system

director Tony Parrott suggested the committee try to develop an alternative

to the state's plan which Fayette could use. He suggested possibly reducing

the hours each day that residents could water instead of cutting out all

Friday watering.

"We've

had odd-even watering in place since 1986, and it has been working well,"

Parrott said, adding that the county enforces the watering restrictions

but hasn't had to issue any citations because everyone complies with the

restrictions.

Some older

automatic water sprinkling systems might not be able to be programmed

to the new schedule, Parrott added.

"I understand

they're trying to give the tanks a rest," said committee chairman

Chuck Watkins. "But odd-even watering works so good."

Parrott said

he would be in contact with the state's drinking water program about modifying

a special program for Fayette County.