Completion of Atlanta’s $321.3-million, five-year project in late 2020 will expand the strained regional water supply now—and hopefullly in the tuture if conditions worsen. More than 61% of the contiguous U.S. is in some drought classification, the largest portion since 2012, says the U.S. Drought Monitor, a national index managed by federal agencies and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Its March 10 report says the figure is up from 55% in the last month.