heybales219
October 20th, 2007, 01:39 PM
Parched Georgia declares drought emergency
LAKE LANIER, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on Saturday declared the northern region of Georgia in a state of emergency as its water resources dwindled to dangerously low level.
Rainfall in the area is far below normal for the year. Lake Lanier, the main water source for the Atlanta area's 5 million residents, is nearing historically low levels.
Perdue said the state would seek an injunction forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the flow of water from the lake.
"The Corps is sending 3.2 billion gallons of water downstream out of Georgia reservoirs every day," Perdue said. "That's enough to fill three-and-a- half Olympic-size swimming pools every minute."
Source: CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/20/georgia.drought/index.html)
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With water supplies rapidly shrinking during a drought of historic proportions, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern third of Georgia and asked President Bush to declare it a major disaster area.
Georgia officials warn that Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre reservoir that supplies more than 3 million residents with water, is less than three months from depletion. Smaller reservoirs are dropping even lower.
Source: Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303769,00.html)
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His remarks came a day after Perdue lawyers asked a federal judge to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the release of Lake Lanier waters to Florida until March 1.
As part of Perdue's request to Bush, the governor is seeking for a statewide exemption from federal guidelines that dictate the amount of water sent downstream from Georgia's reservoirs.
The governor claims the amount of water the corps sends downstream is about double what Mother Nature would provide to federally protected mussels living in Florida's Apalachicola River.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/10/20/water_1021.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab)
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Photo gallery of drought-stricken lakes in north Georgia (http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/lakelevels1010/)
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LAKE LANIER, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on Saturday declared the northern region of Georgia in a state of emergency as its water resources dwindled to dangerously low level.
Rainfall in the area is far below normal for the year. Lake Lanier, the main water source for the Atlanta area's 5 million residents, is nearing historically low levels.
Perdue said the state would seek an injunction forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the flow of water from the lake.
"The Corps is sending 3.2 billion gallons of water downstream out of Georgia reservoirs every day," Perdue said. "That's enough to fill three-and-a- half Olympic-size swimming pools every minute."
Source: CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/20/georgia.drought/index.html)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With water supplies rapidly shrinking during a drought of historic proportions, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern third of Georgia and asked President Bush to declare it a major disaster area.
Georgia officials warn that Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre reservoir that supplies more than 3 million residents with water, is less than three months from depletion. Smaller reservoirs are dropping even lower.
Source: Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303769,00.html)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
His remarks came a day after Perdue lawyers asked a federal judge to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the release of Lake Lanier waters to Florida until March 1.
As part of Perdue's request to Bush, the governor is seeking for a statewide exemption from federal guidelines that dictate the amount of water sent downstream from Georgia's reservoirs.
The governor claims the amount of water the corps sends downstream is about double what Mother Nature would provide to federally protected mussels living in Florida's Apalachicola River.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/10/20/water_1021.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Photo gallery of drought-stricken lakes in north Georgia (http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/lakelevels1010/)
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution