Two and a half weeks ago Gov. Mike Easley made a plea to North Carolinians: Cut your water use in half by Halloween for the good of our drought-stricken state.

On Thursday, Easley's office released the results of his call to arms. Use is down 30 percent since August for the state's largest public water systems, short of the 50 percent target.

"My goal was lofty, but all citizens must cut water use as much as they can," said Easley, who promised to use the information his office collected to identify regions and water systems that could do a better job conserving.

In the Triangle, no systems achieved a 50 percent reduction over the five-week period beginning Oct. 1 and ending Sunday. Cary led the way with a 28 percent decline.

"I think we're within striking distance of our expectations," said Marie Cefalo, Cary's water conservation coordinator. Cefalo said the town, which has had year-round mandatory water restrictions in place since 2000, had already cut much of its nonessential water use before Easley's announcement.

"That makes the governor's challenge that much more challenging," Cefalo said.

Easley spokesman Seth Effron said one has to go back several months to accurately determine whether individual water systems met Easley's goal.

"What the governor was asking is for everyone to cut back 50 percent from what they typically use," Effron said. "Going back to the first week of August presents a truer picture."

This August was the hottest and second-driest month in the Triangle since at least 1944, when record-keeping began at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. That helped boost water consumption in Raleigh and elsewhere to record highs.

Still, a review of Raleigh's official water use data shows the city has reduced its water consumption almost twice as much this fall as it did last fall. The city's water use last week was about 8 million gallons a day less than during the same week last year.

Ed Buchan, Raleigh's water conservation specialist, said the city has done about all it can to conserve.

"That's as low as we can expect to see," Buchan said. "Even if it snows tomorrow, I don't see another 20 million gallons going away."

Worst drought ever

Snow is the last thing on forecasters' minds, as the state is now in the grip of the worst drought ever recorded, going back to 1895 when drought conditions were first calculated, according to a report issued this week by the National Weather Service.

Of North Carolina's 100 counties, 58 are experiencing "exceptional" or "extreme" drought, the most intensive of four categories of drought. The Triangle counties of Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston and Chatham are among 33 counties under severe or extreme conditions.

While the Triangle benefited from a well-timed rain in late October, its effects are wearing off. Central North Carolina got 2 to 5 inches, but by last week, stream flows across the state had dropped significantly.

Falls Lake, which supplies drinking water to Raleigh and most of Wake County, is more than 8 feet below normal, and only 36 percent of the lake's water supply remains.

To end the drought this winter, the state needs as much as 24 inches of rain over the next three months. The chances of that are less than 4 percent.