Elizabeth Hallman hasn’t had to twist open the hose faucet lately.

“Right now I don’t feel like anything needs watering,” said the office manager at By the Yard Lawn Services in Chickamauga, Ga. “God’s doing a pretty good job of that.”

Because of recent wet weather, Georgia officials lifted outdoor water restrictions on Wednesday and declared an end to the drought that has gripped much of the state since late 2007.

“Georgians have seen the most severe drought on record, and have proven their ability to conserve and manage our state’s most precious resource,” Gov. Sonny Perdue said in a news release.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division on Wednesday issued a non-drought schedule for outdoor water use for the first time since June 2006.

“If you look at Atlanta, (rainfall is) a half inch above normal for the year and four inches above normal for spring,” said David Glenn, chief meteorologist for WTVC-TV NewsChannel 9 in Chattanooga. “There is really no area in our viewing area that is still in a drought.”

Mr. Glenn said it’s important to be in this position as the region heads into what is usually a very dry summer with only patchy evening showers. He noted that the lake and ground-water levels are also much higher than just a summer ago.

“A lot of the reservoirs are full, and we’ve got a surplus,” Mr. Glenn said. “That’s really the place you want to be at this time of the year.”

That’s good news for Sandy Cagle, part owner of Cagle’s Lawn and Garden in Tunnel Hill, Ga. Business had been off the last few years since customers were reluctant to buy plants and put them in such dry soil, she said.

“A lot of them talked about that,” she said. “They weren’t gardening as heavy because they couldn’t water it.”

Heavy rainfall in recent months has helped Georgia and the rest of the Southeast emerge from the worst drought categories. The state’s climatologist said Wednesday that Georgia has seen the second wettest spring in 115 years, according to the Associated Press.

Fifty five North Georgia counties have been under Level 4 drought restrictions, which prohibit most types of outdoor water use, according to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

Parts of Whitfield and Walker counties were among the 23 North Georgia communities that reached Gov. Perdue’s water conservation goals, according to a recent report.

Catoosa, Dade and Chattooga counties all fell short of the goals, according to a report from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

EPD Director Carol Couch said in the news release that residents “lived through one of the worst droughts in Georgia history” but still managed to conserve water.

But she cautioned: “The decision to ease outdoor watering restrictions should not be seen as a license to waste water, but as a vote of confidence in Georgians ability to conserve and use water efficiently.”