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Thinking about drought while sopping up heavy rainfall goes against human nature.

But that's exactly what water managers are urging Utahns to do, despite a record-breakingly wet May.

While some parts of Utah have received more than 400 percent of normal precipitation for the month, others linger in prolonged drought.

And the rains of May have not replaced the water lost from a low snowpack. Some state reservoirs still are circling the drain.

So at the end of the monthlong deluge, Lehi city boosted its new water-shortage management plan to the equivalent of "yellow."

"The rain has helped, but it is not the primary contributing factor to our water," said Lehi assistant administrator Robert Ranc.

Lehi moved to Phase II of its plan Thursday, with mandatory watering limited to three days a week and no hard-surface washing, like hosing off the driveway or sponging down a car. The middle phase was set to activate when water levels reached 50 to 74 percent of capacity.

Salt Lake City logged 18 straight days of measurable precipitation through Thursday, breaking an old record of 17 days set in 1995, according to the National Weather Service.

But the impressive water totals and record-breaking string of days have done little to drown the drought Utah water users face this summer.

"We have had a cold and wet spring and that is great, but the problem is we had no snow to go with it," said Brian McInerney, a hydrologist with the weather service's Salt Lake office. "Roughly 90 to 95 percent of our water supply comes from spring snow runoff. If we had a normal snowpack, this would have been wonderful."

But the snowpack was hardly normal, and Utah's soil dried out even more as the sun baked the dirt for most of the winter. Even when May's rain set in, it took awhile for the ground to become saturated and water to reach the state's reservoirs.

Water levels at many reservoirs were boosted after the heavy rains, but not enough.

For example, water in Weber County's Pineview Reservoir was at about 16 percent of normal, McInerney said. After the impressive storms, Pineview's water level climbed to about 30 percent of normal.

"That's impressive to have the average percentage bumped up, and it is helpful, but in a small way compared to where we started," he said.

McInerney agreed with Ranc that the greatest impact from the month of rain probably will be from people not turning on their sprinklers, leaving more water in storage for the summer.

Linda Townes with the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District encouraged homeowners to keep paying attention to their lawns and only watering when necessary.

"The soil is still saturated from the rain, so even though it will get hot, they probably won't need to water for another week," Townes said.

She recommended the "screwdriver test" — if the tool slips into the grass easily, postpone watering.

"Waiting to water trains grass roots to grow deeper, which results in a healthier lawn overall," she said.

According to the Utah Division of Water Resources, lawns won't need to be watered through at least June 4. The exceptions are in Emery, Grand, Wayne, San Juan and Washington counties, where the division recommends homeowners water just once before June 4.