The South Carolina State Climatology Office has designated Oconee, Pickens, Greenville, Spartanburg and Cherokee counties as being in “extreme drought,” the most severe of the five levels of drought status.

In an effort to offset the effects of the drought, the city of Clemson took the step Monday night during its city council meeting to implement mandatory water restrictions for water utility customers. The resolution sets a goal of reducing water usage by 20 percent. To do this, the city is implementing an odd-even lawn irrigation system, corresponding to the address number of each home. Irrigation must take place between the hours of 7 p.m.-7 a.m. The washing of sidewalks, walkways, driveways, parking lots, tennis courts, buildings, gutters, cars, motorbikes and boats is prohibited under the restrictions.

Violating the municipal code could cost customers $250 plus court assessments.

The restrictions will stay in place until the area is no longer in the extreme drought status, a Clemson press release states.

Elsewhere, other municipalities are encouraging their residents to use their water conservatively.

The city of Seneca, while not implementing any mandatory restrictions, is making it a point to ask customers to be cautious of their water usage. While Clemson draws from Lake Hartwell, Seneca gets its water from Lake Keowee.

“We’ve not declared any mandatory action,” Utility Directory Bob Faires said. “We are just asking everyone to act responsibly during this drought. We’re asking them to continue conserving. Everyone is doing a good job.”

Seneca must be mindful of the drought’s effects, as its service area and customer total has grown in a year’s time, while the total water volume has decreased, Faires said. One way he suggested people could conserve water is to irrigate their yards only once a week and early in the morning. There are many different ways to conserve water without having to implement mandatory restrictions, if residents make the effort to follow them, Faires said.

“Use common sense,” Faires said. “Take shorter showers, wash full loads of clothes and dishes, don’t run the water while shaving or brushing your teeth, things like that. A lot of little things will add up.”

Mayor Dan Alexander said he believed residents of his city know to take the drought seriously and that they were acting accordingly.

“We’ve got to be conscious that we’re not getting a lot of rain,” Alexander said. “We need to conserve, and we appreciate our residents doing that. It does help.”

The drought has directly affected those who live on the lakes of the Golden Corner, as Duke Energy spokesperson Linda Conley said Duke continues to closely monitor the lake levels as it relates to the current Sunday through Friday ban on using lake pumps for irrigation purposes.

A complete ban on the use of lake pumps was implemented Nov. 9, 2007 and remained in effect until April 2008 when Duke lifted the ban on Saturdays only. At this time, Saturday watering will still be allowed. Duke will revisit the issue in two weeks.

Duke has also cut back its hydro-generation use and has been using other fuel sources to produce electricity at those facilities. Conservation use is also being encouraged among employees internally, Conley said.

Meanwhile, Westminster finds itself in significantly better shape in terms of water. City Administrator David Smith said the city’s water source, the Chauga River, is down but is still supplying adequate water to meet Westminster’s needs.

“We’ve asked our customers to be conscious of the severe drought situation,” Smith said. “At this point we haven’t felt the need to impose any restrictions. If the council desires to do so they might, but I don’t know at this point that they will.”

In Anderson County, Pendleton Town Administrator Teri Sloan said the town, which gets its water from the Anderson Regional Joint Water Authority, is aware of the dry conditions and is closely monitoring water levels and usage. Sloan said each municipality acts as each sees fit after the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announces such drought conditions. Anderson County remains in a state of “severe” drought — the next to highest level.

“DNR declares the status, and they inform the towns of this status,” Sloan said. “The towns then decide whether to enact their ordinance. The town is continuing to monitor the status of the drought and lake levels.”

Walhalla, like most of the cities in the area, is not requiring mandatory restrictions, although it is not outside the realm of possibility if the drought persists, Utilities Director Scott Parris said. Walhalla continues to be on voluntary water restrictions, and no changes have been contemplated in the near future, Parris said.

"Right now we're not in bad shape," Parris added. "I'm sure that if we don't get more rain that will change. We're keeping a close watch right now."

To the southeast of Walhalla in West Union, residents are dealing with mandatory restrictions like Clemson residents. West Union has been operating under mandatory water restrictions for months, Town Clerk Cecilia Atkins said. Those restrictions include no watering of lawns or washing cars and a ban on filling up new swimming pools.

Salem officials have urged residents to use water prudently but have stopped short of mandatory restrictions. Officials have asked that irrigation be reduced to a minimum level and urge water users to develop daily conservation habits that would reduce consumption by 20-25 percent.

Questions remain by those in the climate prediction business as to whether or not the drought will persist, and if so, how long and how severely. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce released a three-month national drought outlook July 3. In the model, the Upstate was expected to endure drought through early September, with some improvement.

Brett McLaughlin, Matt Wake and Carlos Galarza contributed to this story.