Water Level Drops, Panic Rises In Georgia

(CBS)  Across North Georgia, thousands of people are digging private wells, nervous that their regular water's about to run dry.

"The phone is just ringing off the hook," said Bob Askew, the owner of a well-drilling company. "It's like working at a telethon or something."

Lake Lanier is the region's main source for drinking water. And it's being drained into crisis, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports.

"And here, these are tree stumps," said Val Perry, a resident.

Perry is furious. The lake is so low that entire islands have surfaced.

"And you can see these guys are done," Perry said while boating on the now-shallow lake. "Ooh, see, we just hit something."

Lake Lanier is down 10 feet just this summer. And among five million Georgians, panic is rising.

Without rain, the lake's drinkable water could hit bottom by year's end.

Many of the boats and boaters left weeks ago. The shallow water is why. At the nearly dry spot Strassmann reported from on the lake, he should have been floating in 14 feet of water.

And the level is still dropping another foot every week.

Control of Lake Lanier is now a power struggle.

Georgia's suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the lake, and drains up to three billion gallons more every day.

Most of it flows south into Alabama and Florida, feeding people, utility plants, even two varieties of mussels protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"We are trying to balance that so that we meet the needs up and down the river," said Col. Ben Butler of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Georgians like Val Perry accuse the Corps of mismanagement, saying it is "irresponsible, arrogant."

Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue agrees.

"It is nonsensical," he said.

Georgia's suit demands the Corps stop sending so much water out-of-state.

"The public doesn't understand that. And it gives the public little confidence in the ability of the federal government to manage our affairs," Purdue said.

As the lake drains, the crisis deepens.

Rain's in this week's forecast. But this region really needs a downpour for days.

[docadams3]

"If Katrina showed this nation anything, it''''''''s that the Federal Goverment (under the Bush Administration) CANNOT EFFECTIVELY MANAGE DISASTERS"--Posted by dredre2k

Before Bushit came along, they did pretty well at disaster relief.

Bushit is like a guy you take duck hunting--he blows a hole in the bottom of your boat with his shotgun, then says "see, boats don''''t work!"
Posted by gkc99 at 09:02 PM : Oct 23, 2007


That''s right. The Reagan-Bush dream is to bankrupt the Republic so that corporations and evangelists can rule the people.

[edamos54]

Lake Meade, I believe in NV, is down over 160 feet.
This lake supplies the drinking water for Southern
California. Much of that water is now being used to
put out the out-of-control fires. Everyone worries
about the price of oil/gas and not enough folks seem too concerned about the lack of water. We need water to live, we can''t drink oil. The U.S. is in big trouble. As lakes dry up and the land becomes parched, any rain we do get will not be able to absorb into the parched soil - it''ll just cause more and more flooding. We need the "Latter Rain" in America.

[lloydbest1]

....IN ADDITION, THE CONTINUED STRENGTHENING OF LA NIA CONDITIONS IN THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC DOESN`T BODE WELL FOR THE EXTREME DROUGHT IN THE SOUTHEAST AS WARMER AND DRIER WINTERS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TIER STATES ARE TYPICALLY EXPECTED WITH THIS COOL WATER PHASE. AUTHOR...MARK SVOBODA, NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION CENTER.

Lifted that from the drought page from the National Weather service. The Caps are not mine and "La Nia" refers to an abnormal cooling in the Eastern Pacific that typically (but not always) drives weather patterns in the southeast toward the warmer and drier end of the seasonal range.
The next 90 to 120 days could be very interesting (as the ancient Chinese defined it) for the Gulf States and the Atlanta Metro area. I have in-laws who live in Atlanta''s northern suburbs and they have always been very conserving of water. As fast as the region is growing water is problematic even during wet years.
Long term weather forcasts are not 100% reliable and it is still possible the climate pattern will shift and Lanier may fill to overflowing by February but if this La Nina follows the norm, Georgia will be seeing several more months of much below average rainfall. I hope not but my in-laws are prepping for the worst.

[twixcon]

Is this something new? Heck wells were going dry in New England back in the 70s. What has changed is that we are now a nation of ******* dependent on the government to solve our problems through wealth transfer. Hey stuff happens, it doesnt mean you should ring the cash register.

[mbievtea]

Under the present situation and the continuing draining of water by the Corps of Engineers -- who claim they are just following the law -- that is just taking it too far. I mean c''mon ... why isn''t this story getting attention?! It is something I had never imagined in my lifetime.

[michellem99-2009]

LOOK UP 3 DAYS 3 WAYS AS YER HAVE ACCESS TO THE NET.
The nanny gov''t aint there if yer learnt any thing from katrina..

[jerr11]

They''ve been pretending global warming doesn''t exist.

They can pretend the drought doesn''t exist and maybe it''ll go away!

This redneck logic is hard to beat!!

LOL

[dredre2k]

Is anyone in the federal govt or georgian gov''t making any emergency plans if the state runs out of water?
If Katrina showed this nation anything, it''s that the Federal Goverment (under the Bush Administration) CANNOT EFFECTIVELY MANAGE DISASTERS!

[rushlimpdrug]

If water keeps dropping, will people there die of thirst?
Posted by incog-nito

They can ALWAYS buy bottled water. It''s clean, good, and after drinking you can easily throw the bottle away.
Best of all it never runs out since hey restock the shelves daily.

[glossypan]

"(Why is there a "gh" in drou(gh)t? What kind of moron came up with that spelling?)"

George Bush?