West Point Lake. (Dave Bender/file)
Mayor Shirley Franklin is hopeful President-elect
In October, Obama said he would call for the states' governors
Speaking to the Atlanta Press Club Tuesday,
Franklin, who leaves office at the end of the year, says her
(AP)
Lake Allatoona: a bridge over troubled, and receding, waters (Dave Bender/file)
The U.S. Supreme Court will let stand a lower court ruling that threatens Georgia's long-term water plans for the Atlanta region.
The court's decision Monday raises fundamental questions about Georgia's rights to Lake Lanier, a massive federal reservoir outside Atlanta. It could also play a key role in deciding the
long-running water wars among Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
The case involves a 2003 water-sharing agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers that would have allowed Georgia to take far more water from Lanier for drinking water.
Florida and Alabama contested the pact. A lower court agreed, saying the Corps didn't have authority to use the lake for that reason.
Georgia had appealed to the Supreme Court for another review.
(AP)
Click here for more GPB News coverage of water issues and here for previous reports about the drought.
The State of Georgia is still waiting for the Corp of Engineers to decide whether it will lower the flow of water out of Lake Lanier. Governor Perdue has threatened legal action if the corps does not comply with the state's request. Today Georgia environmental protection division director Carol Couch warned of dire consequences.
“Rejecting our request amounts to the United States Corps. Of Engineers abandoning the people of the state of Georgia,” Couch told reporters.
The EPD is starting to plan for a pending emergency, because Lake Lanier could run out of water in 81 days if there’s no substantial rain says Couch.
“We may have to assure that hospitals ship their patients elsewhere” she said ”This is a potential disaster in the making.”
The Corps Of Engineers says it may draw water from below the minimum level required for Lake Lanier, but that has never been done before and could be costly. Next week Couch will make recommendations to Governor Sonny Perdue on which businesses should get water use restrictions.
Growers have been forced to jack up the price of your jack-o-lantern this year.
Be prepared to spend more than last year when you head out to buy a pumpkin. Dry conditions across the Southeast have caused widespread shortages according to Clay Slaughter, who sells pumpkins at the Macon State Farmers Market.
He says he had to travel far to get his pumpkins with the added cost of fuel hiking prices.
"I had to go really north to get good pumpkins out of the State of Michigan. Tennessee pumpkins are not any good because of the drought. Georgia didn't have any pumpkins. Alabama, north Alabama normally grows a lot of pumpkins and the drought killed them too."
Pumpkins are normally planted around the Fourth of July and need temperatures below 90 degrees, and plenty of rain to grow. According to farmers the few pumpkins that did survive in Georgia this year are going to be very small.
The ongoing drought has caused Governor Sonny Perdue to temporarily waive fee’s some truckers pay as they enter Georgia.
The lack of rain means the grass isn’t growing, so there’s less hay for life stock in Georgia. Much of the food for large animals
now has to be trucked in. With rising gasoline prices that mean the price for hay will go up.
Now Governor Perdue has suspended the fee truckers pay when they come into Georgia. The waiver is good for 30 days and applies only to trucks that bring in food for life stock.
State officials say that fee starts at $46 per truck and could be more depending on the cargo. Truckers must get a permit from a weigh station as they enter the state.
A spokesperson for the governor says he hopes the savings, while small, will be passed on to the farmers and lower feed prices.
Officials say the recent storm has helped some dried out fields, but may not be enough to produce the hay needed in Georgia this summer.
Officials ratcheted up watering restrictions from level 1 to level 2 Wednesday as dry conditions widened across the state.
Georgia residents are now allowed to water their lawns only between midnight and 10 a.m.
Violators in Jones County are subject to a graduated series of verbal and written warnings, and increasing fines in upwards of $500.
The state has been in a level 1 drought since last summer, and midday watering was already forbidden between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The state climatologist says the driest areas include Polk, Floyd, Chattooga, Walker, Dade and Catoosa counties in northwest Georgia. Also dry are the counties lining the most southeastern corner of the state.
Updated Georgia Forestry Commission Fire Weather information is here.
(Rickey Bevington contributed to this report)
