How low can they go?

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Water levels at Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona are approaching record lows.

Dry land surrounds Lake Lanier's many islands and waterfront homes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to release more than 500 million gallons of water a day from Lanier to satisfy downsteam needs and have no plans to stop.

A canoe and floating dock on Lake Allatoona have nothing on which to float.

A dock on Lake Allatoona sits on dry ground. The regional drought is also setting record low-water marks in rivers and streams, with no end in sight. Climatologists are predicting a warm, dry winter ahead.

Lake Lanier has about three months of storage left, according to state and federal officials. Lakefront property is drying up.

Lake Allatoona's dry shoreline. In metro Atlanta, which normally receives about 50 inches of rain annually, less than 25 inches has fallen in 2007.

The drought has left Lake Allatoona's bed dry in many places. Allatoona and Lanier are at historically low levels in spite of the highly restricted water use across the state.

Tires normally used as wave breakers around a Lake Allatoona marina sit in shallow water.

The last time Georgia faced a drought, from 1998 to 2002, the state was rescued by an active tropical storm season and a rainy winter. Lake Allatoona could use the rain now.

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Dry land surrounds Lake Lanier's many islands and waterfront homes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to release more than 500 million gallons of water a day from Lanier to satisfy downsteam needs and have no plans to stop.

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