If drought conditions continue to persist, Coweta County residents may soon see their lawns transformed from a sea of green to brown.

Under a drought management plan approved by the Coweta County Commission Tuesday night, outdoor water use could be limited to only farm and emergency usage and industries would be monitored on a weekly basis to see if they're attempting to conserve water.

That's the worst case scenario that would be implemented if the drought became severe. Under this level four plan, water consumption would be reduced by 30 percent.

Other scenarios include:

” Level one management includes all uses allowed, but voluntary restrictions encouraged. The water consumption rate would be lowered by 5 percent.

” Level two would mandate water conservation. All residential customers would be required to maximize conservation and would be told that the next restrictions would be severe. The goal for reducing the water consumption would be 10 percent.

” Level three would implement outdoor water restrictions that would limit outdoor watering to once a week on an odd/even day watering schedule.

Commercial and development landscaping would be limited to once a week and the county would shoot for a 25 percent reduction in water use.

Commission Chairman Vernon “Mutt” Hunter agreed with the plan, but cautioned water director Harry Hughes that the county would have to agree with water restrictions from other jurisdictions where it purchases water.

For example, Hunter said Coweta and Fayette are currently involved in talks that would allow Coweta to purchase some of Fayette's water on a long-term basis.

If the deal goes through, it would only be fair to implement the same restrictions on the water use that Fayette County has, he said.

Hughes said that was taken into consideration when the plan was developed.

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