ATLANTA - Information released Monday at a meeting of the Water Task Force shows Gwinnett, Forsyth and Hall counties would be especially hard hit by a lack of water supply from Lake Lanier.
Governor Sonny Perdue told Fox 5 News that they're working feverishly to make sure that doesn't happen.
"We will do what it takes," said Perdue. "Whether we can do that by the summer, by July 2012, or not remains to be seen."
The task force, made up of more than 80 business, government and conservation leaders, was formed in response to U. S. District Judge Paul Magnuson's ruling that barring Congressional action, Lake Lanier will no longer be a viable source of water for Atlanta.
The task force has learned that losing Lake Lanier as source for drinking water could mean an annual loss of more than $26 billion for businesses.
Metro Atlanta could lose up to 280 million gallons of water a day without the lake and businesses could lose up to an estimated $39 billion dollars a year.
Conservation measures discussed at the meeting include gray water recycling, tapping into ground water, and desalinizing sea water from Georgia's coast.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)