Gov. Mike Easley asked communities and individuals today to step up water conservation by taking steps ranging from ceasing all outdoor watering to turning off the faucet when brushing teeth.

Easley said he did not want to invoke his emergency powers to require water rationing. Instead, he said, local public officials should respond to the problem themselves to avoid running out of water.

"There's a solution to this problem," Easley said, addressing local officials at a conference of the N.C. League of Municipalities. "We can either create more water or we can use less. I don't know about you, but I cannot make it rain."

He warned that without greater conservation, some industries could be forced to close, throwing people out of work.

Siler City in Chatham County, for instance, faces the possible closure of two industries, which would mean the loss of 1,700 jobs, Easley said. The town has 80 days worth of water remaining, and officials there have asked people to cut water use by at least 50 percent.

"This drought is unprecedented, and the action I'm going to ask you to take has so far been unprecedented," Easley said. "I call on you to be decisive, to show your leaderships, to stand up and lead by example and to ask every member of your community to do more."

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Gov. Mike Easley will call on local officials and the public to do more to save water when he speaks this afternoon at the annual conference of the N.C. League of Municipalities.

Easley's office is billing the speech as a "major announcement concerning the drought," but did not say whether the governor will do more than re-emphasize calls for local officials to impose voluntary or mandatory cuts in water consumption.

All 100 North Carolina counties are experiencing drought, with more than half, including those in the Triangle, suffering from "exceptional" drought. That is the most serious designation from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Some water experts have urged Easley to require statewide mandatory water conservation; many communities have asked for only voluntary conservation measures or none at all. Earlier this month, an Easley spokeswoman said the governor can declare a drought emergency and require statewide cuts in water use only if supplies become so low that public health and safety are threatened.