Allatoona is full, but Lanier is still quite low
Lake Allatoona is now a little above its typical summer level of 840′, sitting at 841.07′ right now. That’s quite a turnaround, and it’s quite good.
However, Lake Lanier is still well below normal, sitting just above 1057′ (full is 1071′).
Regular readers of this blog should understand why Lanier is still so low. For any newcomers, or anyone that doesn’t understand the problems that are unique to Lake Lanier, 11Alive has a nice article that covers some of the basics of Lanier’s problems. It’s a good overview to check out.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
2-3 weeks ago there was a lot more green areas for North Georgia. Now there are more yellow and red areas, not a good sign.
http://168.29.150.40/aemn/cgi-bin/DROUGHT.pl?map=c&b=r&e=m
April 9th, 2008 at 10:26 am
It’s clearly time for the Corps and the city of Atlanta to consider pulling more water on Allatoona since it’s clearly a more renewable resource.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Lake Lanier’s main problem is release of too much water, on daily basis, to keep the last reservoir full on Florida’s border, Lake Seminole. As long as Woodruff Dam releases 3 billion gallons of water into Florida, each day, thus Lanier can only refill slowly. Those who own homes on Lanier’s lakefront should realize the reservoir could remain half-full/half-empty for a few years.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:04 am
As long as ACE releases almost the same amount of water daily, as inflows
into Lake Lanier, then reservoir will refill slowly. Even though the drought shows signs of ending, Lanier might end up lower at end of next summer than it was last fall. Lake could remain basically half-empty for several years.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:40 am
And what would be wrong with the lake remaining “below full pool”?
Property values of lakefront homes? Give me a friggin’ break.
Wake up and smell the H20 people!
Go back and read some of the original articles and comments on this forum - it’s full of irresponsible comments like “falling home prices” and “dead pool” that just didn’t pan out.
BGGAAAAAWWWKKKKKKKKKKKKK
April 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I spent a little bit of time trying to assess where we are today vs. the same day in prior years. Here’s the data:
2000 1067.89
2001 1061.72
2002 1064.46
2003 1072.36
2004 1069.96
2005 1071.85
2006 1069.49
2007 1068.39
2008 1057.20
Interestingly (at least to me), we’re only 4.5′ below where we were, on the same day, in 2001. The numbers do suggest that it’ll take more than a year to fill the lake.
Fortunately, the lake is still getting a little bit higher every day (although only a little bit). Maybe tomorrow’s forecasted rain will help. I was disappointed that some areas around Atlanta last weekend got 2-3 inches of rain, but Gainesville apparently got less than 1/2 inch. I’d sure like to see what 2-3 inches of rain in a 2-3 day period would do for the lake.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Although I don’t like in the Atlanta area, I find it very surprising that a large city in the U.S. would be facing this issue.
For a short term solution Corps should consider having water transferred
April 14th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Didn’t get to finish my train a thought.
Emphasis should be placed on filling Lake Lanier before the dry Summer months. Maybe the Corps should consider transferring water in from other districts, regions as a short term solution. Mississippi River Basin is experiencing record flood levels. Major spillways along the Mississippi have been opened to prevent additional flooding on towns, cities that border it; and to illeviate pressure on dams.
I don’t know how difficult it would be from a logistical standpoint to ship water in from Mississippi Basin, but they should really consider this as an option. I am quite sure there are plenty of water collection areas along the Mississippi that can be utilized for this purpose.
Fresh water is a valuable resource; and should be exploited as much as possible.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Hi Bryan - We have had discussions on this forum before (many and lengthy) about the logistics of transferring water. The truth is, it would be next to impossible logistically to truck in any significant amount of water. The amounts we are talking about are so enormous that it just isn’t realistic.
The realistic way to bring in water would be by pipeline and the Tennessee river is much closer to tap than the Mississippi.
And remember - North Georgia has plenty of water for the needs of North Georgia. It just doesn’t produce enough surplus water to keep itself wet, plus keep Alabama and Florida happy.