There is no money in the state budget to study raising the level of Lake Lanier, says the Governor's office. Lawmakers wanted to use state money to urge the federal government to do the research.

Republican Senator Butch Miller is from Gainesville where Lake Lanier sits. He pushed for the inclusion of two millions in the budget to study raising its water level two feet to help solve the state’s water woes.

But he says since Lake Lanier is a federal reservoir, the Army Corps of Engineers would have to conduct the study using federal money.

"Later in the process we learned that the state monies can not be used for a federal project and this would be in fact a federal project," says Miller.

Florida and Alabama have taken Georgia to court to get more water sent down stream from Lake Lanier.

The states have until 2012 to reach a water-sharing agreement, or millions in metro-Atlanta could lose their drinking water source.

Tags: Lake Lanier, Water War, Reservoirs, Georgia water, Senator Butch Miller