Lake Lanier, metro Atlanta's main reservoir, once was a watery jewel. Today, it looks more like a giant South Georgia mud-bogging pit.

Gentlemen, start your 4X4s.

The latest photographs of the state's "great lake" are pitiful. But on another level, these harsh images reveal more than evidence of a sustained drought, which has caused the lake's water level to plunge almost 20 feet below normal.

They also show chickens that are coming home to roost.
Or maybe they're vultures.

And they could be winging their way to South Georgia, if residents in this half of the state aren't careful.
Actions have consequences. So do greed, apathy and short-sighted public policies. That's what those photos show.

It's too easy to blame nature for Atlanta's water crunch. Weather is always a crap shoot. Sometimes you win - as coastal Georgia did with hurricanes in 2007. Here, it was another season, another miss.

Sometimes, however, you lose.

About 4 million people who live in Georgia's most populated region have rolled snake eyes when it comes to getting the liquid sunshine they need to, well, sustain life.

Water has always been the Achilles' heel in the capital of the New South. This one-time whistle stop, after all, was birthed by the railroad. Not by rivers, like Savannah and Augusta.

Without regular soakings, the Big City might find itself high and dry. That parched day of reckoning is getting closer.
But forget Mother Nature. The humans aren't helping, either.

A long-awaited, statewide water plan that's supposed to help slake North Georgia's thirst and provide long-term solutions looks less like a relief package and more like a mirage.

Worse, it could threaten this end of Georgia if Atlanta is allowed to swipe water from the Savannah River.
At least two critical pieces are missing. One is conservation. It's a no-brainer.

The City of Savannah recently gave away some free, low-flow toilets to people on the city's water system. Yes, maybe the collective savings amount to symbolic drops in a bucket. But if you require the installation of millions of water-saving fixtures in metro Atlanta, or, at the very least, require all new development to have them, those drops add up.

But the water plan that the Georgia Legislature will consider next year doesn't make these devices mandatory. That's brainless.
Take sustainable development. Some developers in this area, such as Melaver Inc., approach every job with an eye toward saving energy and conserving water. The two go hand-in-hand. But is sustainable development required in water-starved areas? Nope.

Here's the real straight flush on Georgia's water: Growth in metro Atlanta is beyond the saturation point. It's time leaders steered that growth to areas where resources are more plentiful.

Is that too much to hope for? Perhaps. It's easier (and usually more enriching) for politicians to pave the way for developers than to enact modest barriers.

Still, lawmakers must know they can't treat Georgians outside metro Atlanta like water boys.

One region's thirst is no excuse to suck the rest of the state dry. Don't take the water. Instead, enact responsible policies.
And spread the wealth.