ATLANTA --- As far as legal arguments go, the stakes don't get much higher: water supply for more than 3 million people in metro Atlanta.

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On Wednesday, Georgia will ask the federal appeals court in Atlanta to overturn a judge's ruling that found it illegal for the Army Corps of Engineers to draw water from Lake Lanier to meet most of the metro area's needs.

In that 2009 ruling, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson set a clock ticking. If Georgia, Alabama and Florida cannot arrive at a water-sharing agreement that is approved by Congress by July 17, 2012, metro Atlanta can only take the amount of water it received in the mid-1970s.

At that time, the metro population was about 1.5 million people, less than a third of what it is today. Even Magnuson recognized it would be "a draconian result."

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Georgia's appeal, which is joined by Atlanta, Gwinnett County, the Atlanta Regional Commission and other interests.

"This is the most important case for Georgia's future in decades," state Attorney General Sam Olens said. "The potential impact to metro Atlanta alone, if Judge Magnuson's order goes into effect, is estimated at between $25 billion and $40 billion per year."

Gwinnett County, which draws all its drinking water directly from Lake Lanier, might have the most to lose.

"When you think about the effect this ruling would have on several hundred thousand jobs here, I don't think it takes any extrapolation to consider its ramifications on the national economy," said Frank Stephens, the county's water resources program manager.

Fred Smith, the president of Accurate Fence in Snellville and a lifelong Gwinnett resident, predicted an exodus from the county if Magnuson's ruling stands.

"It would be devastating -- for everybody," he said. "Just look how much Gwinnett has grown since the 1970s. There wouldn't be nearly enough water to go around."

Georgia has retained one of the top lawyers in the country, former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman, to argue on its behalf. Waxman has delivered more than 50 arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning landmark rulings that banned the death penalty for juvenile offenders and upheld habeas corpus rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. According to published reports, Waxman was on President Obama's short list two years ago as a possible Supreme Court nominee.

Waxman is sure to attack the ruling issued by Magnuson and drawn from an 85,000-page administrative record.

In recently filed legal briefs, Georgia sharply criticized Magnuson's handling of the case. The state accused the judge of overstepping his authority, misinterpreting the intent of Congress and making critical miscalculations regarding how much water in Lake Lanier's conservation pool is being diverted.

Alabama and Florida called Magnuson's order "detailed and carefully reasoned."