Not much chance, absent the emergency, that this information would have surfaced otherwise.

This drought has been a major pain, but it also has demonstrated how the public's collective smarts can be brought to bear on a problem. At the beginning of this month, we asked you for ideas on how people could use less water. According to Richard Stradling, the editor who has been running our drought coverage, about 160 of you have contributed.

We published some ideas in the paper, and many are online. (I apologize in advance for the lengthy URLs, but this column runs online, too, and the links should be live this morning when you go to www.newsobserver.com.)

* Nellie and Jimmy Hocutt, who live just outside Raleigh, figured a way to divert bathwater so it would run into a drum, where it could be used for the garden: www.newsobserver.com/1038/story/ 745153.html

* Christina Stableford of Raleigh learned how to flush a toilet with recaptured water from the bathroom sink and shower: www.newsobserver.com/ weather/drought/story/742216.html

* Ken and Margo Metzger of Raleigh figured out how to make a rain barrel for about $10: www.newsobserver.com/ weather/drought/story/737402.html

Many other tips can be found at http://share.triangle.com/savewater. A previous forum, http://share.triangle.com/water, also has useful ideas.

Stradling is impressed with the quality of the tips he has received. "People obviously put some thought into them," he said.

Jewel Deane Suddath of Raleigh told us she puts out buckets, pans, bowls and casserole dishes when it rains and stores the water in Mason jars and old Pepsi bottles. In one rainstorm in September, she "canned" 46 quarts.

We could have brainstormed all day and not come up with that idea.

The point of publishing these ideas is not simply to present a comprehensive list of water-saving strategies. It's also meant to inspire, Stradling said. It gets people thinking about what they can do. If everyone gets motivated (for example, like me) to cut the 20-minute shower to two minutes, that can have an impact.

You can also find a lot of information on our Fact Finder page on water resources and the drought at http://share.triangle.com/ node/9625. This has links to municipal water agencies, ideas for drought-tolerant landscaping, lake levels and the latest water-use restrictions. This was put together by our News Research department. There's a neat water calculator from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority.

One of the best gadgets I've seen was put together by one of our graphic artists, Judson Drennan. It has a link from www.newsobserver.com, but you can get to it directly at www.newsobserver.com/1181/story/745683.html. This doohickey lets you slide your cursor along a bar from March to now, and you'll see water levels in local reservoirs adjust week by week.

What you see about Raleigh's water supply is that Falls Lake, for example, was full as recently as May 22. Even on July 3, it was 90 percent full.

Then we had the hottest August on record, and we were down to 65 percent by early September. At the end of the bar, Oct. 23, the lake was at 41.8 percent. Keep turning off the shower, Mayor.