Georgia declares drought emergency*

White House says it will review Perdue’s request for federal assistance

The Associated Press
Updated: 1:46 p.m. PT Oct 20, 2007

CUMMING, Georgia - 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 the state 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.

Perdue asked the president to exempt Georgia from complying with federal
regulations that dictate the amount of water released from Georgia's
reservoirs to protect federally protected mussel species downstream.

"We need to cut through the tangle of unnecessary bureaucracy to manage
our resources prudently — so that in the long term, all species may have
access to life-sustaining water," he said.

On Friday, Perdue's office asked a federal judge to force the Army Corps
of Engineers to curb the amount of water it drains from Georgia
reservoirs into streams in Alabama and Florida. Georgia's environmental
protection director is drafting proposals for more water restrictions.

More than a billion gallons of water is released from Lanier every day.
The Corps of Engineers bases its water releases on two requirements: The
minimum flow needed for a coal-fired power plant in Florida and mandates
to protect two mussel species in a Florida river.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Perdue's request will be
reviewed.

"In the meantime, we have already begun drafting interim rules to use
procedures and flexibility to address the endangered species
requirements and the Army Corps has started the process of revising the
operations manual for the river basin," Perino said.

Georgia point fingers at neighboring states
Georgia lawmakers say neighboring states also are exploiting the law as
a tool to draw more water from Georgia's lakes.

"We've learned from this what a blunt weapon the Endangered Species Act
has become," said state Rep. John Linder. "We need to understand this
lake was created not for mussels but for people."

More than a quarter of the Southeast is covered by an "exceptional"
drought — the National Weather Service's worst drought category. The
Atlanta area, with a population of 5 million, is smack in the middle of
the affected region, which encompasses most of Tennessee, Alabama and
the northern half of Georgia, as well as parts of North and South
Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.

Georgia was placed under statewide water restrictions in April that
limited outdoor watering to three days a week. By May Atlanta allowed
watering only on weekends, and in September environmental officials
banned virtually all outdoor watering through the northern half of the
state.

Could take months to replenish water supplies
Restaurants have been asked to serve water only at a customer's request
and the governor called on residents to take shorter showers. More
limits will probably be needed, said Carol Couch, the state's
environmental director.

"This is not something we can conserve our way out of," said Lt. Gov.
Casey Cagle.

The state of emergency Perdue declared Saturday affects 85 Georgia
counties, more than half of the state.

Conditions were worsened by stifling summer heat and a drier-than-normal
hurricane season. State climatologist David Stooksbury said it will take
months of above average rainfall to replenish the system.

Perdue said the state has not yet formed a contingency plan in case the
reservoirs run dry. "The backup plan is to conserve and use our water
wisely," he said.

The emergency declaration creates an emergency team that will oversee
the state's response to drought. It also could free up some state money
to respond to the drought, Couch said.