Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Roughly 30 percent of North Carolina is no longer in a drought, according to the latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
In North Carolina, only 5.1 percent of the state is in extreme drought, and no parts are in an exceptional drought.
But that 5.1 percent is concentrated in our area -- it includes all of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Gaston counties, and parts of surrounding counties.
South Carolina has a bigger area under extreme drought conditions, at 17.6 percent. But the entire southern part of the state is out of the drought, which means only 36.2 percent of South Carolina is under drought conditions.
See the drought maps below for more details:
