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Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in the St. Paul, Minn., is hearing the lawsuit that pits Alabama and Florida against the Big Peach in litigation that began nearly two decades ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The dispute began in 1990 when Alabama sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to bar the corps from delivering metro Atlanta more water from Lake Lanier. Alabama and Florida maintain Lake Lanier -- created by Buford Dam in the mid-1950s -- was formed for three purposes: flood control, barge passage downstream and power generation. The two states also said accommodating Atlanta's drinking water needs violates the Water Supply Act of 1958.

An appeals court upheld the two states' position when it tossed a 2003 settlement under which the Army Corps agreed to increase drawdowns from Lake Lanier from about 13 percent of capacity to an estimated 22 percent to satisfy Georgia's future water needs, the Journal-Constitution said. The settlement amounted to a "major operational change" at the reservoir and, under the act, requires congressional approval, the appeals court said.

Georgia countered that the Water Supply Act only requires congressional approval by unauthorized entities to tap into Lake Lanier.

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