Some medical school graduates traded short coats for longer ones Monday afternoon at a white coat ceremony.

About 39 future doctors attended the ceremony at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

White coat ceremonies are typically held at academic hospitals; Monday marked the first time the Medical Center has held one.  Chief academic officer Marcia Hutchinson says the ceremony kicks off a ten-day orientation before residents start their specialty training.

Mercer graduate Christopher Inhulsen says he's glad that his hard work and dedication helped him get to this point.

"I didn't expect to have this sort of a ceremony," Inhulsen says.  "Normally at the beginning of medical school, they have a white coat ceremony.  But when you start a residency, a lot of the time you just show up and start working.  But to be able to have everyone here and sort of recognize, it's an accomplishment.

There is less water flowing in the Ocmulgee River this summer because of the drought.

Brian McCallum, assistant director of the Georgia Water Science Center, says during this time of year, 1,350 cubic feet of water per second normally flow in the Ocmulgee River. 

This year, the drought has cut that number down to 830 cubic feet per second.  That's about a 40 percent drop.

Mark Wyzalek, director of Environmental Compliance for the Macon Water Authority, said the reduced flow of the Ocmulgee might have them worried if they didn't have the 5.9 billion-gallon Lucas Lake reservoir.

"It's our storage battery that allows us to store the water when we can, and use it when we need it," said Wyzalek.

He said the authority anticipated this summer's drought, so in the spring, they filled the reservoir as much as possible. It is now 98 percent full compared to 97 percent last year.