Southern Pines has lifted the mandatory water conservation measures imposed last week, but it is still asking residents to voluntarily conserve.

Whispering Pines, which gets its water from Southern Pines, had been under the same restrictions since June 8.

Rainfall since that date has caused Drowning Creek, the raw water source for Southern Pines, to exceed the 20-cubic-feet-per-second daily discharge maximum measurement required by the state for five straight days.

"Daily discharge gets measured on an ongoing basis and it's chugging along where it needs to be," Town Manager Reagan Parsons said Wednesday. "However, it's unfortunate that a couple of weeks without rain could put us right back where we were last week."

Parsons reiterated that the town's conservation plans will change once the new reservoir becomes operational in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2012. The reservoir will be located near the water treatment plant off Drowning Creek, which is just south of Pinebluff.

"We look forward to having a different set of standards in future summers," he said.

Contact Ted M. Natt Jr. at tnatt@thepilot.com.