Lake level continues to drop

GAINESVILLE - As the hot, dry weather continues, Lake Lanier is down another half-a-foot from a week ago and will likely be seven feet below full pool by the first of the week.

The level Friday morning was 1064.15; full pool is 1071.

Georgia claimed earlier this year the federal government is draining too much water from the major reservoirs along the Chattahoochee River, such as Lanier, to protect endangered species downstream in Florida, and if changes aren't made soon lake levels will reach all-time lows this summer, leading to water shortages and other problems.

Because of drought conditions, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been releasing more water than normal from Lake Lanier, West Point Lake, Walter F. George Reservoir and Lake Seminole to maintain stream levels in Florida's Apalachicola River for endangered mussels and the Gulf sturgeon. Georgia's Chattahoochee River becomes the Apalachicola at the Florida border, a matter that is now in the hands of a federal judge in Alabama.

Governor Perdue sent a letter to Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey in early June, claiming that unless the Corps of Engineers scales back the releases of water, those lakes ``will be drawn down to their lowest level in recorded history.''

CORPS RESPONDS

However, Corps officials argued at the time that Georgia is using incorrect modeling to predict how low reservoirs will run. Pat Robbins, spokesman for the Corps of Engineers' Mobile District, said the agency's simulations show the reservoirs affected will not drain any lower than they did during the state's heavy drought in 2000.

"That is based on assumptions given current conditions and forecast conditions," he added. "You can't 100-percent predict the weather."

Robbins went on to say that should levels drop the Corps alters how much water is then dischared for hydropower to conserve supply, but than discharges cannot be suspended because to the needs of the entire river basin.

"Based on our models," Robbins said. "There should not be any effect on water supply."

He also said the state and the Corps use different variables when designing the models used for water supply prediction.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)