An out-of-court water-sharing deal among Georgia, Alabama and Florida seems unlikely with no more negotiations scheduled between now and the Saturday deadline.

Todd Stacy, a spokesman for Alabama Gov. Bob Riley confirmed Wednesday that confidential talks are all but dead — at least for now. Representatives from the three states last met in Atlanta on Monday.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, who has tried to broker a deal among the states since last fall, is expected to release a statement later this week, Stacy said.

The three states, motivated by record-breaking drought and the encouragement of the White House, have met since late last year to work out a division of water supplies from lakes Lanier and Allatoona and the Chattahoochee and Coosa river basins.

"Alabama is always willing to meet, provided all the parties commit to work seriously toward a resolution," Riley's spokesman said.

Sarah Williams, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, expressed the same sentiment.

"We're still willing to work," Williams said.

The states' differences are the subject of lawsuits in federal courts in Alabama and Florida, so continued litigation could determine how the water is divided.

The tone for the negotiations changed this week when Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue acknowledged that a deal is unlikely. The Associated Press reported that Perdue accused Alabama and Florida of lacking the resolve to make a deal.

"I don't think they have the same degree of needs that Georgia has," Perdue said, according to the AP. He was referring to water shortages in Georgia.

Riley's response was equally telling.

According to the AP, Riley said "The suggestion by Gov. Perdue that the water supply problems of Atlanta are more critical than the needs of the people of Alabama and Florida is ... disappointing. ... Until Georgia accepts that its needs are no more critical than those of its downstream neighbors, the prospects for a negotiated solution are indeed dim."

For 18 years, the three states have fought over Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River, and Alabama and Georgia have fought over Lake Allatoona and the Coosa River. Georgia wants to hold more water in the federal reservoirs to serve the drinking water needs of metro Atlantans and other Georgians.

Alabama and Florida say Georgia has done a poor job of planning for growth and that withdrawing more water from the reservoirs and rivers will take water away from their needs, including Florida's oyster industry and Alabama's power plants and paper mills.