Thirsty Georgians looking north to the Tennessee River hope that a half-mile patch of land between the river and the state line will make it easier to draw from the river. That's because we could possibly negotiate river access with the federally created Tennessee Valley Authority, which controls the land, not primarily the state of Tennessee, which is in no mood to deal. To bolster the case, Georgians say we only want to take out some of what Georgia contributes upriver.

(ENLARGE)

MORE ON THE DROUGHT: • Map: Heavy demands on our water • Photos: April showers bring ... • Photos: Lake rises dramatically in January RELATED: [an error occurred while processing this directive] • More on coping with the drought

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WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"It's not like we're trying to take something. We just want it back. And we don't even want half as much back as we put in."

• Ben Brandon, CEO of Dade County in northeast Georgia

"It's been awful. Lake Nottely was almost completely empty. You could see the river flowing through it. It was 17 feet down on July 4th."

• Callie D. Moore, executive director of the activist group Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition Inc., based in Murphy, N.C. Moore said her group would be opposed to Georgia taking water out of the Hiwasssee, Toccoa and Nottely before they reach the Tennessee.

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IF WE GIVE WATER TO TENNESSEE HERE ...

Preliminary estimates suggest about 1.4 billion gallons a day flows from Georgia.

... WHY CAN'T WE TAKE IT OUT HERE?

Georgia wants about a quarter-billion gallons a day from Nickajack Reservoir.

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CAN'T WE SIPHON OFF THE WATER BEFORE IT LEAVES?

• The TVA controls the rivers and counts on the water to flow into Tennessee for power plants and barge navigation, particularly in the current drought. Withdrawing from Nickajack wouldn't affect upstream users.

• It would be an engineering and financial challenge. "It would be hugely expensive because the pipes would have to go over the mountains from all three rivers," said James Kundell, a professor emeritus and water

expert at the University of Georgia.

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WHAT'S AT ISSUE

State lines don't always match water drainage basins. Six percent of the Tennessee River's drainage basin above Nickajack Reservoir is in Georgia, draining mostly through three rivers. The river's flow at Nickajack is 24 billion gallons a day.

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Four Georgia towns and a water utility are permitted to withdraw 5.3 million gallons a day from the Georgia rivers.

The Atlanta area gets most of its water from Lake Lanier and releases through Buford Dam into the Chattahoochee. The most used in a single day is about 600 million gallons. A pipeline — which would take years to become operational — could provide 500 million gallons a day.

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GETTING IT THERE

One possible scenario would have a pipeline and channel run through a natural gap in Sand Mountain to Trenton, then roughly along a line tracking beside I-75.