U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal will change the language of a proposed bill after meeting with West Point Lake representatives for about an hour Monday afternoon.

“West Point Lake is in a unique situation,” said Deal, a Gainesville Republican who is making a bid for governor. “We’ll be withdrawing the language about West Point.”

Deal had proposed a bill late last year that would authorize all federal lakes in Georgia - including West Point - to be used for water supply. The move comes after a federal judge ruled this summer that Congress has three years to reauthorize Lake Lanier for water supply for the Atlanta metro area. If there’s no reauthorization, water users there will need to find another supply.

West Point Lake advocates support the move to authorize Lanier as a drinking water source, but say the authorization shouldn’t be made basinwide. Leaders in Troup County fear that adding a water supply authorization on top of the current flood control use would put too much pressure on West Point Lake and wind up dropping it to levels that would make it unusable for recreation and other purposes.

They were pleased with the results of the session with Deal, which came before the congressman made a number of campaign-related stops in LaGrange. The West Point Lake Advisory Committee met Friday and discussed how best to convey their concerns to Deal.

“The issue is storage,” said Joe Maltese, LaGrange’s point-man on the lake. “Atlanta needs Lanier for storage. We don’t need West Point Lake for storage. The original Chattahoochee River yielded enough water supply for LaGrange even on the driest day.”

Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.