Access rights to Lake Lanier is at the center of the tri-state dispute. (photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps)
A federal judge ruled in July that the Atlanta region was illegally tapping Lake Lanier. He said Georgia would lose access to the federal reservoir in three years if it can't push a settlement through Congress authorizing the use. The ruling gave Florida and Alabama the upper hand in the states' two-decade dispute over river basins in the region.
