A water fight over Lake Allatoona pits the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority (CCMWA) against the Army Corps of Engineers.

The authority contends the Corps is not allocating millions of gallons of water correctly.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports the state has granted the water authority the right to store and use up to 4.3 billion gallons of water from the lake for its customers.

However, the lawsuit claims the Army Corps of Engineers insists the authority's water storage account is empty, even when the lake is at full pool.

"It's an error in their accounting and we've been arguing with them since 2007 about this very thing," Glenn Page, the water authority's general manager, tells the MDJ.

Millions of dollars are on the line.  Page explains water customers would have to pay for new pipeline, reservoirs and pumping station if the authority loses this suit and access to the water it claims out of Lake Allatoona.

"Why should the water customers in our service area pay $200 million for an unnecessary and environmentally damaging project?" Page tells the paper.

The lawsuit seeks to set aside the Corps' water storage account system, allowing the authority to draw the amount allowed it by the state.

The Corps tells the Marietta Daily Journal, it does not comment on pending litigation.