Along with 30 other counties, Newton County, improved from a Level 2 Drought Response to a Level 1 Drought Response.
Requirements under a Level 1 Drought Response include implementing a public information campaign on drought conditions.
Newton County, along with every other county in the state of Georgia, was placed under a Level 1 Drought Response in September (EPD).
While recent rain has brought much-needed water to reservoirs such as Lake Varner, bodies of water in the northern part of Georgia are still recovering, leaving 12 counties in Level 2 Drought Response.
“Winter rains have brought needed relief to much of the state, but Lake Lanier, the Chattahoochee River and smaller streams in the region have been slow to recover,” said EPD Director Richard Dunn.
“In comparison, lakes West Point and Walter F. George downstream from Atlanta are smaller lakes located in larger drainage areas.” During a Level 2 Drought Response, outdoor landscape watering is only allowed two days a week determined by odd and even-numbered addresses.
Prohibited outdoor water uses under a Level 2 Drought Response include: Washing hard surfaces such as streets and sidewalks.
Water for ornamental purposes, such as fountains.
Non-commercial washing of vehicles.
Non-commercial pressure washing.

‘The world must act now to stop this,’ UN chief Guterres says on visit to drought-hit Somalia.
He said that 3.3 million people are in need of health support and that cholera has been developing and making hunger even worse and more dangerous.
In the last two months, there were 7,731 cases of cholera with 183 people dying.
“It’s a process in acceleration,” he warned.
But now is also “a moment of hope” because Somalia is turning the page, with a new President elected and a new Prime Minister appointed, he said.
Leving the capital, Mr. Guterres met and spoke with victims of the current drought when he visited a settlement for internally displaced people (IDPs) today in the town of Baidoa.
“If we have stability and if it rains, we can avoid famine and we’ll return home,” she told UN News.
According to OCHA, estimates indicate that over 80 per cent of these newly arrived IDPs are women and children.
For over an hour, he walked through the camp, asked question and listened to the stories of men, women and children who had come to Baidoa to seek food and water.
Some had recently resettled from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya only to be forced to move again because of the drought.

Task Force Watching Drought Conditions Closely.
The maps at Tuesday’s Drought Management Task Force meeting now show a less threatening beige or yellow.
"Conditions have improved, but not to the point that we would sit back and relax," Vandana Rao said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The first half of February was fairly good to us.
The last half of February, the first week of March, not so much," said National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Dunham, who also sits on the Drought Management Task Force.
Dunham says the above-normal temperatures experienced during the month of February did not help recovery from the drought.
That’s a phenomenal snow loss.
And I just have a hard time figuring that that much snow loss went into the ground," Dunham said.
The task force agreed to keep the drought index at the advisory level in northeastern Massachusetts as well as for Cape Cod and the Islands — one level away from "normal."
It’s due to meet again in the second week of April.

The Drought In Connecticut Continues.
The rain and snow we have picked up over the last few months is not erasing our drought.
Even the rain we expect today and tonight will only add up to about 0.25″.
Take a look at the last one year period with this graphic that compares percent of precipitation to average.
A breakdown of the past 30 days or so tells a dry story too!
Even though we have had somewhat of an active pattern, the events don’t end up producing much in the way of big amounts locally!
Here’s a look at the percent of normal precipitation back through February 5th.
Notice the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven out through New London and up through Norwich in the red zone.
Here’s a look at the current drought monitor for Connecticut- ESPN will lay off some of the personalities who appear on TV, radio and… Play Video Play Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Remaining Time -0:00 This is a modal window.
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Drought not over in SCV.
Normally, for this time of year, the SCV sees 12.9 inches of rain in what agency officials refer to as a “historical average” amount of rainfall.
Despite the rain, however, the SCV is still considered drought-stricken, according to CLWA water resource experts.
As of the last two weeks, no area of California is considered in extreme or exceptional drought conditions, according to a report prepared for the committee by Dirk Marks, the agency’s water resources manager.
“Last year at this time, extreme drought covered 61 percent of California with 38 percent considered exceptional,” the report reads.
“Approximately 62 percent of California is (now) considered out of the drought completely.” Santa Clarita Valley, however, remains drought-bound.
One particular “8-station North Sierra index” shows precipitation as 222 percent of average.
Big dams in California are filled with water.
Even Castaic Lake, which dried up continually over three years, is now 108 percent of its historical average and is 93 percent full to capacity.
On a positive note, the same committee is expected to learn Thursday that the state-mandate calling for communities to form their own groundwater sustainability group is pressing ahead as planned.

As spring nears, Stamford officials address drought and irrigation.
STAMFORD — Irrigation is the focus of conservation efforts in the wake of an ongoing drought that officials say could linger for months — if not years.
Lawn-watering accounts for most of the discretionary water use in Stamford, Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan, Stamford Mayor David Martin said Monday.
“Single-family residences are the single-largest user by far,” he said.
The state is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years after more than 30 months of below-average rainfall that has starved reservoirs in Stamford, Greenwich and Bridgeport.
“You are the intermediary and we can be more effective controlling irrigation companies.” In the fall, Aquarion enacted a mandatory outdoor watering ban and asked residents to reduce other water use by 20 percent.
Yet, they note the top 25 percent of Aquarion customers account for 56 percent of water use, versus the bottom 75 percent that account for 44 percent — a trend attributed to heavy irrigation by the top users.
The top 1 percent of customers use an average of 800 gallons per day, compared to 74 gallons for the bottom 50 percent, said Jeff Ulrich, water operations director for Aquarion.
“This isn’t a one-year deal and it’s over,” Ulrich said.
“They’re better than they were in the fall, but they’re still well below what you would normally expect this time of year.” The drought and the watering ban stand to change the practices of irrigation contractors, who attended the meeting to learn more about the policies and how they could affect business.

Somalia’s drought killed 110 people in two days.
More than 100 people died from hunger within 48 hours in southwest Somalia.
Error loading player: No playable sources found VICE News Shorts 1 minutes Somalia’s drought killed 110 people in two days VICE News Shorts Somalia’s drought killed 110 people in two days Embed This Video Copy and paste this code wherever you want, the internet is a magical place Reload to watch reload Flash plugin failed to load Please check if you have flash installed Somalia’s drought killed 110 people in two days Drought has pushed Somalia to the brink of disaster.
Humanitarians and aid experts worry the country could fall into a famine worse than the one that occurred in 2011, when a quarter-million people starved to death.
Over the weekend, more than 100 people died from hunger within a 48-hour window in the country’s southwest region.
The government announced the deaths Saturday, less than a week after declaring the drought a national disaster.
Read more: Somalia’s new president inherits a country on the brink of disaster and famine

After a warm, dry February in Baltimore & D.C. areas, drought persists.
In the first week of March, only about a half-inch of precipitation accumulated while slightly heavier rains only fell around the Cumberland region, which was already relatively wet.
A severe drought is impacting all or part of D.C., Montgomery County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County and Prince William County.
A moderate drought is affecting areas in Frederick County, Carroll County, Baltimore City and County, Harford County, Calvert County, Charles County and Saint Mary’s County.
As a result, the Department of the Environment has activated a drought watch in the area.
“Virtually all real-time groundwater monitoring wells are below normal for this time of year, with a few at their lowest levels for this time of year in the last ten years,” the NWS reports.
The warm, dry weather the area saw in February created an early Spring effect, with trees and flowers budding weeks in advance.
In the past 30 days, precipitation has been “just 25-50 percent of normal in the drought-designated areas, and below normal everywhere but the Cumberland, Maryland area.
The good news is that this could change with several chances for rain – and even snowfall – on March 7, and the weekend of March 11th, respectively, and again on March 14.
All in all, drought conditions will likely carry through in March but, the NWS says, “improvement is possible later in the spring.” Time Period DC Baltimore Dulles —————————————————————— Year-to-Date : 6th driest 12th driest 6th driest Last 3 Months (12/6 – 3/5): 13th driest 14th driest 7th driest Last 6 Months (9/6 – 3/5) : 3rd driest 10th driest 2nd driest Last 12 Months (3/6 – 3/5): 7th driest 13th driest 3rd driest

Insurance vital, but no magic bullet to fight drought in Africa.
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More developing countries urgently need insurance to cushion their farmers against weather extremes that can worsen poverty, but it is no magic bullet to ward off the escalating impacts of climate change, experts say.
"Insurance is … (for) when you have done everything you can and there is still a risk you cannot cover," said Beavogui.
Planning for those risks – such as the number of people a government would be unable to help in a crisis – is vital, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Insurance can be triggered more quickly than international aid, which can take months to fund.
ARC’s cover is based on a pre-agreed plan for how the government will use the payout.
Since ARC Ltd began issuing policies in 2014, eight nations have taken out insurance and four – Senegal, Mauritania, Niger and Malawi – have received payouts totaling $34 million.
But while drought last year left 6.5 million people in Malawi in need of food aid, Malawi did not receive an ARC payout until January.
Malawi took out insurance based on a crop – long-cycle maize – that, as it turned out, most farmers did not grow in the 2015/2016 season.
Insurance companies that pay out directly to farmers are still few and far between in many developing countries, and they offer limited services.

Drought emergency spirals in Ethiopia amid major aid shortages.
NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Millions of drought-stricken Ethiopians needing food, water and emergency medical care are not receiving it due to funding shortages, the United Nations said, warning the crisis will worsen if spring rains fail as predicted.
Some 5.6 million people need food aid in the Horn of Africa nation, which has been hit by a series of back-to-back droughts.
"The needs relating to the developing emergency exceed resources available to date," the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday.
"Each day without food assistance exponentially increases human suffering, lengthens the recovery period of affected people, puts increasing pressure on humanitarian and development systems, and the interventions become that much more expensive."
It is three times cheaper to treat children who are moderately, rather than severely, malnourished, it said.
But it takes at least four months to procure, ship and deliver emergency supplies to Ethiopia, it said.
Humanitarians are already short of cooking oil to distribute to hungry Ethiopians, with pulses and cereals likely to run out in the next few months, OCHA added.
(Reporting by Katy Migiro @katymigiro; Editing by Astrid Zweynert.
Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)