For five months Lake Lanier, which provides drinking water to almost five million people in the Atlanta metropolitan area, has been draining away in a withering drought. Sandy beaches have expanded into flats of orange mud. Tree stumps not seen in half a century have resurfaced. Scientists have warned of impending disaster. But life goes on as normal.

As reported by the New York Times, “the response to the worst drought on record in the Southeast has unfolded in ultra-slow motion. All summer, more than a year after the drought began, fountains sprayed and football fields were watered, prisoners got two showers a day and Coca Cola’s bottling plants chugged along at full-strength. On an 81-degree day this month, an outdoor theme park began to manufacture what was intended to be a 1.2 million gallon mountain of snow.”

Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia has declared a state of emergency for more than half the state and asked for federal assistance. However, he didn’t restrict indoor water use or cut back on major commercial and industrial users.

The Atlanta vicinity population has grown by more than 30 percent since 1990 but little has been done to increase the drinking water supply. The result is that the drought has lead to a water crisis in the Atlanta area.

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