“A bit of mud on the car or patches of brown on the lawn must be a badge of honor,” Easley said. “It means you are doing the right thing for your community and our state.”

“We have to change the way we think,” Easley said.

Easley’s speech to the annual conference of the N.C. League of Municipalities in Fayetteville came as the state and the rest of the southeast are in the midst of a relentless drought. More than half of North Carolina’s 100 counties are now experiencing an “exceptional” drought _ the most severe category listed by the federal U.S. Drought Monitor.

Another 30 counties are listed in next worst category of “extreme drought,” while 11 counties are in a “severe drought” and three are in a “moderate drought.”

There are now 106 public water systems that have adopted mandatory water restrictions in North Carolina, while 118 have enacted voluntary restrictions, according to Easley’s office.

The restrictions could not have come at a worse time for Landmasters Inc. in Gastonia, where mandatory water restrictions include a ban on watering lawns. The company is facing a 20 percent decline in revenue this fall, said Bill Jeffers, president of the nearly 30-year-old company, which does landscaping for businesses in several Charlotte-area counties.

“This is the time of year that we do a lot of … reconditioning to what happened in the summer,” Jeffers said. “When it gets to November a lot of those things can’t be done anyway because of the cooler temperatures.”

For now, Jeffers said there are no plans to lay off any of the company’s 24 employees, but he said it’s a possibility if the situation doesn’t improve.

Further north in Chatham County, Jordan Lake is about 5 feet below normal, said Greg Schneider, park superintendent at the state-run site. It is one of the several lakes and reservoirs statewide that are well below normal levels. While boating and swimming are still allowed, the drought has eliminated the designated swimming areas, he said.

Source: Fayette Observer