BUFORD, Ga., Oct. 16, 2007
Drought Grips Nearly Half Of U.S.
Moderate To Extreme Drought Parches Southeast, West And Mid-Atlantic States
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Play CBS Video Video Drought Withers Southeast The southeastern U.S. is suffering from the worst drought in over 100 years, and without rain, cities like Atlanta might run out of drinking water. Mark Strassmann reports.
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Exposed lake bed and beached boat docks are shown at Lake Lanier in Cumming, Ga., Friday, Oct. 12, 2007. (AP)
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Interactive Global Warming The greenhouse effect, a look at the Kyoto Protocol and a history of the Earth's climate.
Tall measuring sticks once covered by a dozen feet of water stand bone dry. "No Diving" signs rise from rocks 25 feet from the water. Crowds of boaters have been replaced by men with metal detectors searching the arid lake bed for lost treasure.
Lake Lanier's the primary source of drinking water for more than 4 million people, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. But levels have plunged to eight feet below normal. And without rain in another month, levels could drop another five feet, passing the record low.
"This lake is a survivor," Jeff "Buddha" Powell told a worried customer at his bait shop along the barren banks.
"If you panic, you don't help Mother Nature," he added. "It's going to rain when it rains."
But this is a once-a-century drought, reports Strassmann. In the best estimate, without rain, metro-Atlanta has 120 days left of usable drinking water.
That dire prediction has some towns considering more drastic measures than mere lawn-watering bans, including mandatory rationing that would penalize homeowners and businesses if they don't reduce water usage.
"We're way beyond limiting outdoor water use. We're talking about indoor water use," said Jeff Knight, an environmental engineer for the college town of Athens, 60 miles northeast of Atlanta, which is preparing a last-ditch rationing program as its reservoir dries up.
"There has to be limits to where government intrudes on someone's life, but we have to impose a penalty on some people," he added. "The problem is how much and who. That gets political. But it's going to hurt everyone. We're all going to share the pain."
About 26 percent of the Southeast is covered by an "exceptional" drought, the National Weather Service's worst drought category. The affected area extends like a dark cloud over most of Tennessee, Alabama and the northern half of Georgia, as well as parts of North and South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.
Meanwhile, a drought parching much of the West and Southeast spread into the Mid-Atlantic area in September, the government reported in its monthly climate summary.
At the end of September about 43 percent of the contiguous United States was in moderate to extreme drought, the National Climate Data Center said Tuesday.
The Great Lakes, which together make up about 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water, have been in decline since the late 1990s. Lakes Huron and Michigan were about 2 feet below their long-term average levels, while Lake Superior was about 20 inches off, Lake Ontario 7 inches below and Lake Erie a few inches down.
Government forecasters say the Georgia and Alabama droughts started in early 2006 and spread quickly. Sweltering temperatures and a drier-than-normal hurricane season contributed to the parched landscape.
Now residents are starting to feel the pinch.
Restaurants are being asked to serve water only at a customer's request, and Gov. Sonny Perdue has called on Georgians to take shorter showers. The state could also impose more limits within the next two weeks, possibly restricting water for commercial and industrial users.
In North Carlina, Gov. Mike Easley stopped short of imposing statewide water rationing but asked people to stop watering lawns and washing cars.
Fast Fact
"A bit of mud on the car or patches of brown on the lawn must be a badge of honor," Easley said Monday. "It means you are doing the right thing for your community and our state."At the end of September about 43 percent of the contiguous United States was in moderate to extreme drought.
As conditions worsen, the Army Corps of Engineers has become a favorite target of lawmakers in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, where the drought has intensified a decades-old feud involving how the Corps manages water rights.
"I particularly am disappointed that the Corps has allowed so much water to drain out of our reservoirs, out of our lakes, as they have," said Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a Republican. "It's not that we haven't had enough water. It's more a function of allowing so much of it to go downstream."
On Friday, Perdue threatened to take legal action if the Corps continued to let more water out of a north Georgia water basin than it collects. And the president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce said on Monday that businesses could also line up behind a legal challenge.
"We have an ongoing water crisis in metro Atlanta. And it is the biggest and most imminent economic threat to our region," said Sam Williams, the chamber's president.
Scientists have little reason to hope the drought will ease anytime soon.
The Southeast Climate Consortium warns that a La Nina weather system is forming, which could bring drier and warmer weather for Florida and most parts of Alabama and Georgia.
"When we need to recharge our water system, this is what we don't want," said state climatologist David Stooksbury, who predicted that it will take months of above-average rainfall to recoup the losses.
In Atlanta, officials are nervously watching the dropping level of Lake Lanier, the sprawling north Georgia reservoir that provides water for 1 in 3 Georgia residents. The latest measurements have become a fixture on nightly television newscasts in Atlanta, where the drought is often the top story.
There is a silver lining of sorts in the middle of the drought: Guides say the lake's fishing is as good as ever, if not better.
"Less water, less places to hide, I guess," said Chuck Biggers, a guide who has roamed the lake's waters for four years.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 37 CommentsPosted by pollroller1 at 09:14 AM : Oct 17, 2007
Who''s this - Guiliani?
Posted by sjbabes"
- If the people of Central Texas would have cared about the rest of us, they would have kept GW in Texas.
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Posted by MCVet at 07:06 AM : Oct 17, 2007
Racist whacko
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Posted by MCVet at 07:10 AM : Oct 17, 2007
HEY hows my favorite Nazi doing this morning, still ZIG HELLING I see?
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Posted by speakinup at 07:32 PM : Oct 16, 2007
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The intelligence of a fascist!! Wow! Breath taking!! ROFLMAO Well at least your fuhrer has FINALLY admitted there is Global Warming... wonder if that will bring rain? ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush!!
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Posted by retiredusaf3 at 08:32 PM : Oct 16, 2007
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ROFLMAO You just keep telling yourself that Sparky. By the way the "dust bowl" effect was MORE the result of stupid farming than draught! But hey when your a stupid cracker and need to hang on to your hate for those ugly "liberals" you''ll buy just anything won''t you. Not to worry though. Those ugly old "liberals" will come to you aid as they always have... can''t understand why but they do. Sieg Heil Y''all.
Posted by s1ckd09 at 07:52 PM
Of course not! Limbaugh certainly wouldn''t want you to believe anything he hasn''t taught you. Now be a good Limbite and wait for him to tell you what to think on his next show about global warming. He is such a good source, I know. Oops...look what the EPA says about global warming:
"While food production may benefit from a warmer climate, the increased potential for droughts, floods and heat waves will pose challenges for farmers."
Ah, but what do they know? I bet Limbogg is the better scientist. I bet he knows everything, with all that talent on loan from gaaaawwd.
Thank you God.
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