Drought Tightens Its Grip on Southeast*

By GREG BLUESTEIN,
Associated Press Writer AP

BUFORD, Ga. - If there's a ground zero for the epic drought that's
tightening its grip on the South, it's once-mighty Lake Lanier, the
Atlanta water source that's now a relative puddle surrounded by acres of
dusty red clay.

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boaters have been replaced by men with metal detectors searching the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.

"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 little rain is in the forecast, and without it climatologists say
the water source for more than 3 million people could run dry in just 90
days.

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.

The only spots in the region not suffering from abnormally dry
conditions are parts of southern and eastern Florida and southeast Georgia.

Government forecasters say the drought started in parts of Georgia and
Alabama 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.

"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."

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.

___

Associated Press Writer Steve Hartsoe in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to
this report.

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