MONTGOMERY A truce has been declared in the water war among several Southeastern states, but the drought that caused it all remains.

Gov. Bob Riley said the agreement reached last week is good for Alabama.

Riley said the Corps of Engineers has allowed Cobb County and Marietta, which is north of Atlanta, to take twice the water they were allocated from Lake Allatoona. The action reduced the amount available for the Coosa River, which flows through Gadsden and joins the Tallapoosa River near Montgomery, where it becomes the Alabama River.

The temporary agreement has eased tensions, but one major problem remains.

In some places in Alabama, the rain deficit is more than two feet off the normal annual amount. That's almost half a normal year's worth of rain.

The drought is expected to continue into 2008.

"That river flow is down drastically and that affects our water availability, and it affects the treatment," said Mike Doyle, manager of Florence Water Works.

He said the surface of Cypress Creek, one of two sources of water for the city on the north side of the Tennessee River, is close to the intake pipe that draws about 50 percent of the city's water needs. Further drops in water levels or lack of rainfall could cause alternate production plans.

Tourism Hurting

Weiss Lake in northeast Alabama on the Georgia state line may be the crappie fishing capital of the world, but the shallow lake is also important as the source of drinking water.

"They bought a pump to move further into Weiss Lake off the Coosa River," said Phil Powell, the mayor of Centre, which gets its water and tourism livelihood from Weiss Lake.

Cherokee County's economy is particularly dependent on water. Home sales, tackle stores, boat marinas, repair shops and restaurants all depend on water tourism. This year has been a bust for the community, and if there isn't any rain, 2008 will be, too.

Environment suffers

Drought also means that the normal amount of pollution in a river is contained in a smaller volume of water, requiring more treatment.

"Our problem has never been quantity, it's been quality," said Jack Rutledge, general manager of the Gadsden Water Works. "It has cost us more this summer to treat it."

The three governors met with congressional delegations before meeting with cabinet officials and the Corps of Engineers last week.

U.S. Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, both Alabama Republicans, sided with Riley. 

"The water in Lake Lanier is not Georgia's water," Sessions and Shelby wrote Bush. "These are federal lakes and the water should be allowed to fairly flow all along the river."

Sessions proposes an amendment that's been approved by the Senate Committee on Agriculture to help agribusiness build ponds and irrigation systems with federal grants of $100 million a year.

Fayette County Probate Judge William Oswalt said he hopes there is money available for a drinking water lake that he's been trying to get for two decades.

"This drought is conclusive evidence of what we've been saying all along: that it's a worthy project that deserves to be completed," Oswalt said. "The dilemma with the lake is funding. We have about half enough money."