Army drafts drought plans

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed on Thursday reducing the flow of water from Georgia rivers into Alabama and Florida in a bid to resolve a tussle among the three states over water use during a drought.

The states will also work on a fresh plan for the corps on how to respond to the drought, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told a news conference that followed a meeting of the governors of the three southeastern states.

"This is the best opportunity for us to find a solution with regard to water and its allocation," Kempthorne said.

"It's no longer theory. There is a drought in the South. It is also important to recognize that the solution can and will come from the governors," he told a Washington news conference relayed via telephone.

The region's worst drought in decades has prompted a water war among the three states. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has filed a lawsuit to force the corps to reduce the amount of water it releases each day from Lake Lanier, 45 miles north of Atlanta.

The Washington meeting was the first opportunity for all three states to discuss the issue after weeks of acrimony and all three welcomed the plan, which they said was not enough of a reduction to hurt downstream activity.

The corps proposed a slow reduction in the minimum amount of water flowing through southwestern Georgia's Woodruff Dam from 5,000 cubic feet per second (141 cubic meters per second) to 4,200 cubic feet per second, said Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, chief of the corps.

"What we need is extraordinary ability to operate in this time of drought," Antwerp said.