Corps to reduce amount of water released from Lanier

ATLANTA - Starting today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reduce the amount of water released from Lake Lanier.

The reduction is not as much as Georgia requested, but the move could keep as much as 64.6 million gallons of water a day in the lake. That's about as much as Gwinnett County withdraws from the lake during the winter.

Lake Lanier is the main source of drinking water for metro Atlanta. The corps took the same action during the last drought in 2001 and 2002 to preserve water in the lake.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch issued a statement saying she appreciates the corps' evaluation of her request to cut the water releases through April 30.

The corps has released only enough water from Lake Lanier to meet metro Atlanta's water needs and the state's minimum required flow on most days since December.