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Drought
The Southeast United States practices water conservation
as it faces one of the worst droughts on record.

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Place your cursor over the slideshow for captions.
his has been a slow tourist season for Georgia’s Lake Lanier. Boaters are nowhere to be found, and the shoreline hotels are empty. The reason? The once sparkling blue water looks more like a puddle than a lake.

The lake began drying up a few months ago. It is just one example of the worst drought on record in the Southeast United States. The region began losing water in 2006 because of high temperatures and a drier-than-normal hurricane season. Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida are also experiencing the dry spell.

Orme, Tenn., was one of the first cities to run completely dry. Water must be hauled into town every other day. The mayor of Orme turns on the water for only three hours each night.

If the lack of rainfall weren’t bad enough, Americans’ overuse of water has made the situation even worse. Americans used more than 148 trillion gallons of water in 2000, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In Georgia alone, water use increased 30 percent between 1990 and 2000. “Is it a crisis? If we don’t do some decent water planning, it could be,” says Jack Hoffbuhr, of the American Water Works Association.

Water Saving Tips
The U.S. government predicts at least 36 states will face water shortages within the next five years. There are three ways you can help save water:

o Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth. Running the faucet wastes 2–5 gallons of water per minute.

o Take shorter showers. You can save 2–5 gallons of water for every minute saved.

o Help your mom or dad fix the dripping faucet. It can waste up to 20 gallons of water each day.

Like other dried-up lakes in the Southeast, Lake Lanier is a reservoir that provides drinking water to millions of people. But the north Georgia lake has other purposes too. It is part of a river system that supplies water to a coal-fired power plant in Florida. It also provides a habitat for three types of endangered species—two kinds of mussels and a sturgeon, a type of fish. A military group called the Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of releasing water from the lake into the system. The group releases more than a billion gallons of water from Lake Lanier each day.

Georgia has filed a lawsuit demanding that the Corps reduce the amount of water it pours downstream. In the meantime, the state has imposed a ban on outdoor water use. Other states in the Southeast have also devised plans to conserve water. In North Carolina, the governor has asked residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars.

Florida may be setting the best example for water conservation. The state already reuses about 240 billion gallons of water each year, but some say more needs to be done to make a lasting impact. “The need to reduce water waste and inefficiency is greater now than ever before,” says Benjamin Grumbles of the Environmental Protection Agency. “Water efficiency is the wave of the future.”


  • What are some ways people can conserve water?
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  • Learn more about the water cycle at the Water Education Foundation’s kids’ page.

  • For water games and activities, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s kids’ page.
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    What have you learned about droughts and water use from this story? Test your water wisdom in this crazy quiz!


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