From treehugger.com
Yes, Lake [Sydney] Lanier is totally within the state of Georgia. Yes, it is a major water source for the city of Atlanta. No, the state cannot just take more water from the reservoir. Buford Dam - which is responsible for the existence of the lake - was built and managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Therefore, its management falls under the purview of the federal government (unless I'm seriously wrong about my understanding here). Federal government projects usually have some sort of cross-state nature justifying their creation; in this case hydropower and flood management (the usual two justifications of USACoE dam projects). Its use for recreation and drinking water for Atlanta were not primary mandates of the dam's creation. Therefore, the city of Atlanta (nor the state of GA) can demand more water from the dam, as watering Atlanta was not the purpose for which the dam was built (see how the logic works here?).
I guess Georgia's got to really figure out what it will do with the available water resources to which it has access, and play nice with downstream users.
(There still hasn't been any announcement about what will happen with Georgia's massive land-grab/border rectification. However, I really don't think that it has a snowflake's chance in Gehenna.)
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