It may not look or feel like it, particularly on a day when the forecasters are calling for rain, but most of Georgia is in an extreme drought.  WABE in Atlanta reported today that Lake Lanier will probably be 15 feet below full pool by the end of November.  In 2007, Lake Lanier was 18 feet below full pool.  The difference this year is the drought is focused below Lake Lanier instead of being centered on it the way it was in 2007.

Georgia’s, continuing series of droughts (is this the new normal?), even droughts that do not raise the type of public concern generated in 2007, show an ongoing need to address the State’s water supply.  Conservation and new sources of water are each art of the solution.  New sources can be the better utilization of existing supplies by storing water in reservoirs during times higher flow, or it can be bringing in a new sources of water such as a transfer from the Tennessee River.