GA task force: Water Wars defeat means $26(B) loss

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s water task force has learned that losing Lake Lanier as source for drinking water could mean an annual loss of more than $26 billion for businesses.

The group met for second time Monday while it tries to develop an alternative plan to using the lake. Georgia has been embroiled in a decades-long fight with Alabama and Florida over water rights.

Metro Atlanta could lose up to 280 million gallons of water a day without the lake and businesses could lose up to an estimated $39 billion dollars a year.

Georgia Public Broadcasting reports that Gwinnett, Forsyth, and Hall counties would be hardest hit if a federal judge’s ruling that Georgia is illegally taking water from Lake Lanier holds.

Conservation measures discussed at the meeting include gray water recycling, tapping into ground water, and desalinizing sea water from Georgia’s coast.