The sun evaporates 2/10″ of Lanier’s water each day
According to an article in the AJC, the sun is responsible for about 2/10″ drop in lanier every day. It’s been losing about an inch/day lately (0.84 the last few days), a trend which seems likely to continue for a while. Yesterday, that 2/10″ amounted to over 193 million gallons.
The weather is cooling off a bit, which should help, but no major rain is anywhere in the forecast.
Tags: evaporation, Lanier, rain
June 19th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
AJC’s math is off.
The Class A pan evaporation rate for Atlanta is somewhere between 50 and 60. So if we figure 55, then with a 38,000 acre lake (at full pool), you would lose 334 acre-feet a day to evaporation. That’s 108.8 million gallons.
The article’s value of 193 million gallons is almost double that, and the lake is NOT 38,000 acres currently, so the 108.8 million gallon figure I quoted is actually high.
If you figure a lake at 30,000 acres, then the actual water loss is something close to 264 acre-feet, or 85.9 million gallons.
Verify it with a Water Loss Calculator:
http://www.grow.arizona.edu/Grow–GrowResources.php?ResourceId=208
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:49 am
Quick! Someone cover the lake!
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
no major rain?
funny, but it’s DUMPING on lanier right now
talk about the dead pool some more, that stuff CRACKS me up
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
and koltre….where the funk do you live? no where near atlanta
tell yer “sistre” ann to cover up that adams apple when she’s going down on hannity
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
Have I missed something in my 7 month absence??
I have a virulently negative reaction to anything coming from Fox news and Coulter, but the above tone seems overly harsh for an intelligent and collegial discourse here.
I personally welcome the informed input of all concerned citizens regardless of their geographical residence. Our challanges today may be somebody elses challenges in the future, and I hope that whatever we learn, we would willingly share.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:54 am
SS - you don’t get it
these people have been “prediciting” Atlanta would run out of drinking water since October
ain’t happenin’
it’s RAINING again on the north side of Lake Lanier
continuing to “predict” water shortages is irresponsible and I’m the only one willing to hold their feet to the fire
again, THERE IS NO WATER SHORTAGE, MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
AJC has fearmongered and predicted that drinking water would run out in the past. Chicken Little took a swipe at me when I was actually argueing his case - that they doubled or tripled the water lost due to evaporation.
Just ignore him SouthernSon - the way we all have to. Trolls are an emergent property of the Internet.
For the record, I’m in St. Louis, MO and curious about how all this will work itself out in Georgia, and not in any way related to Ann Coulter.
Go cross a road ya dumb cluck.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
RkOLTER…..I Have been reading your posts for some time now, and always find them interesting and informative. Most of the time you have been right. There is more to this water shortage then just its effect on drinking water. To the businesses on Lake Lanier, this water situation is devastating ,especially combined with the economy in general. The lake sure looks like its going down at a pretty steady clip every day now. We may not run out of water to drink anytime soon, but there are many businesses that will not be able to survive another low-lake level summer. As far as I am concerned, there certainly is a water shortage on Lake Lanier.
Chicken Little, your an idiot
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Rkolter - ignore the chicken little.
Atlanta just decided to increase water rates now, for the FOUR years. Thanks to this drought. I’m already filling my toilet with water caught from the AC condensor drain pipe. I can’t afford the new water rates and I’m learning to conserve now.
We build and build here, yet our Republican governors won’t fund mass transit OR new needed reservoirs (well, we are looking into new ones now but it’s a bit late).
This State is ridiculous. As soon as the housing crunch is over, I’m selling and I’m outta here.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:25 am
“your”?
I believe you meant “you’re”
idiot
BGAAAWWWKKKKKKK
June 24th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Steve Says:
This State is ridiculous. As soon as the housing crunch is over, I’m selling and I’m outta here.
–
YOU TOO?
LIAR
YOU AIN’T MOVIN’ ANYWHERE
BGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWKKKKKKK
June 24th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Mr. C. Little;
I do get “it”. What I don’t get is you. There certainly is a water problem, and there is a bigger problem, called water planning. If not this year, then next.
“It’s RAINING again on the north side of Lake Lanier”.
Really? What are you going on about? The past 7 days rainfall total at the dam was 11/100ths of an inch. That’s not enough to wet the ground under the trees. The monthly total is .6 inches. There’s no significant rain in the forecast. Lanier is 14 feet below normal and dropping steadily. The entire basin is dry again. But you sir, persist in arguing that there is no concern.
Now what, I wonder, is your investment in such a position?
If, as you argue, that there is no water shortage, I suppose at the very least that you would have no objection to the USACE restoring the full water flow to the Apalachicola River, and going back to your day-time profession?
Just as the AJC seems to be fanning the flames in one direction, you fan flames to justify your position. Neither is helpful.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
BGAAAWKKKK
NOT AT THE DAM YOU IDIOT, NORTH OF THE LAKE WHERE IT ACTUALLY DRAINS INTO IT
June 25th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Mr. C. Little
“NOT AT THE DAM YOU IDIOT, NORTH OF THE LAKE WHERE IT ACTUALLY DRAINS INTO IT”.
BGAAAWWWKKKKK
Well, thank the lord. Little Chicken said it rained. We’re all fine. Guess it’s safe for the USACE to release the full volume of water south to the Apalachicola.
Oh wait! The lake level fell 1.5 inches on the days of Little Chicken imaginary rainfall.
Keep calling everybody here an idiot. It’s amusing. It’s also clear that you don’t actually know what you are talking about, but that’s amusing too. You remind me of somebody else who had a loud non-opinion, who liked baseball metaphors. Swing and miss, Little Chicken. STRIKE ONE!
BBBGGGAAAWWWWKKKKKKK
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 am
Sorry, rkolter, but you are wrong. The math was correct, and it was USACE’s math not AJC’s math.
Your mistake was your use of an average annual evaporation rate for a summertime evaporation calculation. Lake evaporation rates are much higher in the summer than the winter. From May to August, Georgia lakes typically lose 6.5 to 7.5 inches per month due to evaporation. From November to February, Georgia lakes typically lose 1.5 to 2.5 inches per month due to evaporation.
Daily departures from these averages can be significant. For example, a summertime cold front bringing a sunny, windy day with low afternoon relative humidity can really spike lake evaporation.
Let’s use a monthly evaporation rate of 7 inches per month and apply it to Lanier on the day (June 18) that AJC said Lanier lost more than 0.2 inches to evaporation.
Seven inches for the month of June is 0.23 inches per day. The lake level on June 18 was 1057.0 ft and the lake surface area was 32000 acres (50.0 sq mi). A 0.23 inch loss to evaporation on June 18 would represent a loss of 200 million gallons from Lanier. This is quite close to the 193.9 million gallons that AJC reported.
– DSO –
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
You’re right, I was using the annual evaporation rate; I didn’t see a published rate for the summer months. Where’d you get your figure from?
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Bertha is on her way to SHUT DOWN THE ATLANTA “WATER SHORTAGE” BLOG
BGAWWWKKKKKKKK
July 31st, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Just because it’s ironic to comment on it - but Bertha’s pulse of moisture-heavy air pushed through Missouri last night and caused dams to overflow again.
Bertha misses you guys, and soaks us.