Interior Secretary To Tour Lanier With Governor

The reservoir at the center of a decades-long battle between Georgia and neighboring states will get a first-hand look by the Secretary of the Interior this morning. Ken Salazar will be joined by Governor Sonny Perdue in taking a helicopter tour of Lake Lanier and areas previously under drought. Despite above-normal rainfall in north Georgia in recent months, Lanier is still more than five-feet below full pool. The 20-year fight between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over water from the Chattahoochee River remains mired in court. Georgia wants policies to keep more water in the reservoir, which supplies water to metro Atlanta. The other states want more water released downstream during times of drought.

Drought conditions worsening

Extreme drought conditions have spread into most of northeast Georgia. Most rivers and streams are at record lows for this time of year.

State climatologist David Stooksbury also warns that dry conditions are rapidly intensifying across the coastal plane - particularly in central and southwest Georgia.

The Chattahoochee River near Cornelia is at 28 percent of normal flow while the Middle Oconee River near Athens is at 26 percent of normal flow. And that means lower inflows to North Georgia reservoirs.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Lake Lanier - Atlanta's main water source - is only receiving 26 percent of its normal inflows this month. The lake is about 14 feet below full, lower than it has ever been at this time of year.

Mystery spill kills fish

State environmental officials say a chemical spill in metro Atlanta poses no danger to the public or to the Chattahoochee River. But the Department of Natural Resources still hasn't been able to identify the substance. It has already killed thousands of freshwater carp, catfish and bass in a private lake in Mableton.