The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reduced the amount of water it sends from Lake Lanier's Buford Dam, granting a request from Georgia to conserve the source of much of metro Atlanta's drinking water.

The corps, which manages Lanier, plans to reduce releases from the dam by 100 cubic feet per second through March, according to a news release from the federal agency.

The change in procedure comes nearly two weeks after state officials requested a reprieve for Lanier, citing drought conditions throughout the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin, of which the reservoir is a part.

State officials have said the reduced flows will not have a negative impact on water quality in the Chattahoochee River downstream of Lanier.

Corps officials, in a news release Wednesday, agreed with the state's assessment and said the measure might sustain water in the basin throughout the current drought.

"This increased storage, while not significant at this time, could prove very beneficial to the system if the La Niña weather pattern persists as predicted," corps spokesman Pat Robbins said.

Allen Barnes, director of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, asked the corps to reduce the flow to 650 cfs. One cubic foot is equal to about 7.5 gallons.

The normal minimum flow of 750 cfs is meant to make sure there is enough water in the Chattahoochee River downstream of Lanier to dilute Atlanta's sewage.

The water that flows through Buford Dam has been the source of decades of litigation between the three states that share its water.

Aside from providing water to much of metro Atlanta, water from the Chattahoochee is central to power generation in coal, hydroelectric and nuclear plants along Georgia's border with Alabama.

At the Florida line, the Chattahoochee joins the Flint River to become the Apalachicola River. Under this name, its water supports the ecological health of one of the country's most biodiverse regions and the success of the seafood industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

Corps officials say they considered these downstream needs when evaluating Georgia's request this month.

Of the approximately 430 miles of river, Lanier has about 70 percent of the storage capacity of the Chattahoochee basin.

Predictions for the drought affecting the basin show the harshest impacts will be on the southern end of the basin.

Forecasts of below-normal rainfall in the winter and spring could also have continued effects on lake levels, which are already sinking to lows that do not support navigation.

Lanier's level was nearly 13 feet below its full pool at noon Wednesday. Full pool for the reservoir is 1,071 feet above sea level.

Instead of hurting downstream users, Robbins said holding more water in Lanier now might help sustain the flow of water to the Gulf of Mexico throughout the spring.

"The more water you store in the northern end of the system, the more water you have to offset those dry conditions if, in fact, they play out," Robbins said.

The corps' decision is identical to one it made in 2008 when a 100-year drought diminished the lake's level by some 20 feet.

A spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal called the most recent move "very good news" for Georgians.

"The corps is doing the right thing for the lake and for the users in this basin," Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said.

Georgia officials will be responsible for monitoring water quality in the Chattahoochee and making sure the restricted flows do not affect water quality, Robbins said.

Barnes, in his letter to the corps early this month, said that the 100 cubic foot reduction in flows will not be a problem for the river's water quality.

The need for a minimum of 750 cubic feet of water to flow down the river in Atlanta is based on how much sewage the city needed to dilute in 2007, Barnes wrote.

But today, the EPD estimates that Atlanta is discharging about 80 percent of the sewage it did in the Chattahoochee four years ago, he said.