We are again slipping deeper into a drought and Raleigh city leaders are discussing how the city will handle the future water problems.

Falls Lake, the city's main water source, is about three inches below full and residents are under mandatory stage one water restrictions. Those restrictions appear to be working. Public Works officials said water use this year is down about 20 percent compared to this time last year.   

Still, Raleigh and much of the Triangle is starting the summer in worse shape than this time last summer. Water conservation experts said conservation is going to have to become a part of our daily lives.

As Falls Lake drops, ideas to conserve are flowing. UNC water conservation expert Jennifer Platt said what’s being presented is encouraging.

"What a lot of people think when they hear conservation is that it means sacrifice but really conservation is just improving your efficiency,” Platt said.

The Raleigh Water Conservation Advisory Committee threw out dozens of everyday conservation ideas. They include using zones instead of alternate day watering, promoting efficient landscaping and irrigation systems and making the rules system easier for people to understand. But perhaps the most telling of Raleigh's situation is the idea to keep the current stage one restrictions year round. Ed Buchan, with Raleigh Public Utilities said the main point of doing that would be for irrigation reasons.

"There would still be some relaxing in terms of pressure washing and washing cars but in terms of irrigation, what we have now, keep that in place. That's one idea,” Buchan said.

It's also an idea modeled after Cary's water conservation program. Cary leaders have boasted year round restrictions kept the city in good shape the past year.    

This was just one of a series of meetings. The advisory council will also discuss the current car wash program, incentive programs for things like energy efficient appliances and if a stage three is needed and what it would look like. The council will then report back to city council with all of the ideas.