CHARLOTTE -- As the weather heats up, many Mecklenburg county residents are looking forward to washing their cars and getting their lawns and gardens in top shape. But keeping those lawns looking like golf course greens will be difficult this summer.

That’s because county officials are already restricting outdoor watering. These steps are being taken to prevent a drought like the one the state faced last summer.

"We'll just have to wait and see. It may be that we will have to look at it on a month-by-month basis at least through the summer period and into the fall,” Duke Energy spokesman Ed Bruce said.

The rain we've received this spring has not been enough to ease the dry conditions.

"We are still very much in a drought. Even though we have had some rain in the past few weeks, I understand the indicators are not for a lot of rain coming up,” explained Barry Gullet, a member of Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities.

"A lot of the indicators suggest to me that it may be dry through the summer,” Duke Energy spokesman George Galleher added.

On Tuesday, the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group met to discuss what the dry forecast could mean for the state.

"Well the continued drought, groundwater is depressed, the stream flows are depressed, we'll have to work with Duke and the community, will have to work together to work through another dry summer if that turns out to be the case,” Galleher said.

They are asking everyone to continue to conserve everywhere they can, helping to prevent possible problems in the future.

"There's a million and a half people who are depending on them to do the right thing,” Gullett said. “There are a million and a half people that get their drinking water from the Catawba River all the way from the mountains to the coast. We need everyone to watch out for everyone else."

While water bans are still underway, some committee members suggest all outdoor watering should be allowed one day a week with a reassessment of this recommendation at the end of the month.

Check with your county government for a complete list of water restrictions.