water shortage. As soon as you do, it rains, as it did after the Government last week called on people to be more careful about water use.

Nonetheless, the heavy rainshowers on Friday and over the weekend do not mean that Bermuda is out of the drought; rainfall remains far lower than normal since the beginning of the year.

What is compounding the problem is the fact that Bermuda residents are far more careless about water use than they were before the discovery of the fresh water lenses beneath the Island and the introduction of desalination and reverse osmosis systems.

In June -- when it was already clear that Bermuda had not had enough rain -- water usage exceeded by 44 percent the amount of water used during the last major drought the Island faced in 1989.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott has noted that: "We should all be doing whatever we can to conserve what we have now. Because even if we do get heavy rain in the next two weeks, we will still need to conserve for the future.'' This is right. Production of water from desalination remains relatively limited and great care must be taken not to exploit the fresh water lenses to the point that they are irreparably damaged.

The tremendous expansion of swimming pools, increased flushing, longer showers and more frequent use of laundry in private homes are all contributing to the spectacular increase in water use. We run a dangerous risk of acting as if nothing is seriously wrong and damaging the Island's future resources as a result.

This newspaper has already published the conservation measures that are suggested by Government, but they are worth repeating here. Some people carry these measures out already from sheer habit. Most people have either forgotten them or never knew them: Use a basin for washing dishes and vegetables rather than just running water; keep a bottle of drinking water in a refrigerator rather than running a tap; wash laundry when there is a full load and take a quick shower and turning off water while soaping and shampooing; turn off the tap when brushing one's teeth; place a brick inside the toilet cistern or adjust the float to a lower level to reduce the quantity of water used to flush; flush only when necessary; use a bucket rather than a hose to wash cars; and recycle waste water for flushing or watering plants.

It's good advice. Why aren't we all doing it?