COBB COUNTY, Ga. -- After Cobb County’s single biggest residential water user was exposed on Channel 2, talk radio and national newscasts picked up the story. Now, officials in Cobb County say the man using a thousand hot tubs worth of water is getting the message.

Cobb County Chairman Sam Olens said the owner of 4151 Thunderbird Drive told the water department he didn’t know how bad the water crisis was. He’s now vowing to comply with Cobb’s strict new water policies and the numbers show he’s making progress.

"Well separate from it making the news, it's obscene," said Olens.

Olens said he heard from the water department just how it was that Chris George Carlos was using so much water at his 5-acre estate. It seems the 30-day exemption on new plantings never ran out because Carlos had his own personal landscaper planting continuously.

"He assured us that he told his landscaper to permit no outdoor landscaping water use at all and that he would be fully compliant in the future," said Olens.

Cobb officials just took the November reading and the numbers are telling. Remember the house's October reading? That notorious 440,000 gallons of water? The new reading is 121,000 gallons -- a drop of more than 70 percent. "But that too was still too high," said Olens.

Despite the national press and the attention of talk radio, Carlos has never responded to Channel 2's request for his side of the story. But he better respond to the county's get tough policies. "And we're going to all the larger water users and expressly telling them that we are monitoring their houses daily and that they will comply with the revised drought plan," said Olens.

Olens said after being fined a couple of times for violations, Cobb County will cut off their water.

Officials just read the meter again during a spot check and Carlos is using 2,000 gallons a day. Instead of gulping enough water for 60 homes, it’s down to about 9 homes.