State officials now say go ahead.

For months, officials cautioned against using "gray water," the murky mess that's left after you bathe or wash dishes, calling this recycling illegal and a threat to public safety.

But Tuesday, as Gov. Mike Easley introduced a legislative proposal aimed at beefing up water-conservation efforts in North Carolina, officials said dumping buckets of leftover bath water on your trees is just fine.

"If water's clean enough to bathe your child in or wash your dishes in, it should be clean enough to put on your flowers," said Bill Ross, secretary of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Desperate times call for desperate -- and dirty -- measures. This spring, state officials will draft guidelines for users on how to safely recycle gray water, said Robin Smith, assistant secretary of DENR.

They'll likely tweak state laws that suggest it's an illegal practice; those laws, Smith said, largely address how household appliances must be piped into designated sewer systems. Smith said she's not aware of any local officials chastising residents for watering flowers with gray water. Piping your bath water into the yard is still very much against the law and a health risk, Smith said.

Last fall, readers swapped tips in the newspaper about getting more mileage from their bath water. Several public health officials, including one at DENR, wrote to editors with concern, saying that the use of gray water was illegal and posed a health risk.

"Just think of the reason you're washing your body," Barbara Hartley Grimes, a program coordinator at the state Division of Environmental Health, told a reporter in November. "You're washing off waste. You're washing off pathogens."

Ted Murphy, a Durham resident whose family was featured on the front page watering his lawn with his son's bath water, was relieved to hear of the governor's change of heart.

"That's great news," Murphy said. "I'm glad some common sense has been applied to this issue. It's just kind of an obvious issue that needs to be done."

Smith said state environmental officials suggested lightening up on the gray-water restrictions after seeing that other states have allowed residents to use such water for years without problems. Some states even allow residents to use gray water for in-ground irrigation systems. Smith said North Carolina is not considering that measure now but might in the future.

Smith warned that residents shouldn't go crazy with the gray water. Water by hand, in your own yard. Steer clear of vegetable plants and fruit trees. Make sure Fido doesn't lap up the water before your azaleas absorb it.