Allatoona is back up to its normal winter pool
Things are still looking really ugly for Lake Lanier, but Lake Allatoona has somehow gotten back up to its normal winter level.
Granted, that means its still about 17 feet below its normal summer pool level, but that is normal for this time of year. In fact, if the lake was any higher than it is right now, the Army Corps would have lowered it to this level anyhow (hopefully not during a drought, though).
I find it interesting that Allatoona has been able to rise about five feet in the last month, while Lanier has only gone up by about six inches. I guess it’s all of the downstream interests pulling water out of Lanier, while Allatoona has far fewer obligations of that nature.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Somebody here correct me if I’m wrong, but I was looking at the ACE web-site for lake levels, and I found this on the forecasts page:
SUMMER POOL AVERAGE WEEK 1
Lanier 1071.0 1066.2 1051.3
West Point 635.0 628.7 629.9
George 190.0 187.4 189.5
Woodruff 77.5 77.1 77.6
Allatoona 840.0 827.5 824.4
Carters 1074.0 1073.2 1049.1
My reading of the web-site was that the average was the average for the week 1 forecast (in this case, the first week of February). If that’s true, it seems Lake Lanier is the only lake that’s really down off it’s average level. A lot of those lakes are downstream of Lanier — I wonder if ACE has been filled downstream lakes first?
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I’ve been watching this and the ACE data doesn’t really show that they are releasing that much right now. I railed pretty hard at Florida, etc for demanding such unusually high release levels during the late summer.
They got more rain downstream and filled up quickly because they are very small lakes with a very big watershed (unlike Lanier which is very big with a very small watershed).
January discharge has averaged somewhere around 800 cf/s which is a pretty reasonable level. (November discharge was 2244 cf/s in comparison). I suspect we could reduce down to 500 or 600 cf/s but at some level below that we would be pumping a very high concentration of treated sewage back into the Chatahoochee below Atlanta.
The problem seems to be inflow numbers. Inflow average this month looks to be around 1000 cf/s. In comparison last January the average was 2537 cf/s. Oddly, the COE is showing approx .2 inches of rain for the month of January at Buford. At my home in Gainesville, I have gotten something more like 1.5 inches.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Rich > the rain has been skirting the area of Georgia above Lake Lanier. Northwest Georgia has gotten rain so watershed has refilled Allatoona. As long as the rain fails to fall in northeast Georgia, then Lake Lanier is screwed. Drought seems to be centered at north Georgia mountain region. Notice the thread above this one on energy industry making threats now. Lanier will be drained completely by mid summer if they get their demands.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
At present I am unsure what water supply obligations are demanded of Lake Allatoona. But due to the above normal rains falling on central and southern Georgia in the past 4-6 weeks, the ACF basin DOWNSTREAM from L. Lanier is flush with water, and thus release obligations on Lake Lanier to supply the basin with water are minimal. This is good news regarding the preservation of water in Lanier.
Less good news is that Lanier has risen only about 7 inches from it’s early December minimum. What is very unclear at this moment is whether the La Nina weather pattern is controlling, or whether we are in more of an El Nino…which favors wetter weather in the south-east states. Direct observation on this point is tricky, and the prevailing oceanic observations and weather conditions almost points to a hybrid of both systems.
UPSHOT: The 3 month forecast looks tricky to pin down.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Jay,
You’re right. GA Power is BY FAR the biggest user of Chattahoochee/Lanier water. There’s not anyone even close who uses as much water as they do daily.
Ideally, the government should start a public education program to teach people that cutting back on their electricity consumption now is just as important as cutting back on their water consumption, because BOTH should save water. But in order for that plan to work, GA Power is going to have to keep a close eye on their water needs and tell the Corps when they can cut back on water releases. And I’m not so sure GA Power wants to do that.