Holiday warning for Lake Lanier
With Lanier at its lowest level for this time of year since it was built in the 1950s, the Corps has issued a warning to anyone planning to use the lake over the holiday. The statement from E. Patrick Robbins reads, in part:
“The shallower water conditions could expose sandbars or stumps to those swimming or boating,… Boaters should be cautions as declining levels may reduce clearance over underwater obstructions.”
The article in the AJC brought up some interesting facts:
- The lake is about 15 feet below full, something we’re all well aware of.
- Of the 39 public docks, only two are usable.
- Of the 100 lanes of public boat ramps, only 12 are usable.
Also, the article claims that the corps expect Lanier to drop another foot by July 25. Considering we lost about 1.5 feet in the month of June, that sounds like a pretty reasonable guess.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
The ACE forecast is that by Aug-1, the lake will be at 1054.5. It was at 1056.23 on Jul-1, so that’s a loss of 1.73 feet over the month of July, or an average loss of .0558 feet/day.
That’s reasonable.
ACE forecast website:
http://water.sam.usace.army.mil/fc.htm
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
BORN AND RAISED IN THE BRIAR PATCH
BORN AND RAISED IN THE BRIAR PATCH
B’GAAAAAWWWKKKK RABBIT
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
DANGER WILL ROBINSON
DANGER WILL ROBINSON
LOW LAKE LEVELS AT LANIER
BGAAWWWKKKKKKKKKK
July 7th, 2008 at 8:30 am
one word: Bertha
July 7th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I’ve been watching Bertha. Forecasters say it is too early to determine if it will affect any land, but predictions say it will sweep up the coast, and not plow through the Gulf of Mexico. Georgia wants a hurricane that intensifies in the Gulf and heads north; a hurricane that sweeps up the east coast is lots less likely to dump rain where you need it most.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
rats
July 8th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I looked at this and the models seem to be predicting Bertha will head too far to the north. *shrugs*
July 12th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I just saw a commercial encouraging people to go to the lake. Saying not to worry about the drought. It was basically saying, low water levels - bah hum bug - we need your money.
July 12th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Sure they need your money. Between the economy, fuel prices and low lake levels, I would hate to be a Marina business on the lake. They probably couldn’t sell a business on the lake if they wanted to. The perception of the potential for continuing water level problems at Lanier will affect sales of businesses there for years to come.
Low water levels is not bah hum bug…….it poses a real danger for boaters who may boat on the lake. Just the added stress of having to be extra careful if I do boat on the lake would keep me from going there.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Besides the fact that navigation is a little more difficult, the lake is still very usable and using the lake does not equate to using water. The water is still there to send to those needy mussels in Florida.
I have heard another commercial aimed at fishermen that has been running since late winter excitedly saying “Lake levels are up”. That one irritates me a little.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I know the lake is still usable. I am talking about the perception people have in other areas about the lake. If there are other lake alternatives for boaters that have no navigation problems, why would they go to Lanier?
Would you want to purchase a business property on Lake Lanier that relies on the lake for your revenue not knowing if you are going to have enough water year to year?
PS I live in Florida with thise needy mussels!
July 13th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Buying a business or home on the lake right now would be based on the assumption that the lake levels will come back. It would be a speculative purchase at a discount. The economy here is very much impacted. No question.
As a Florida resident do you derive some value from those mussels? Because we have a lot of human types up here in Georgia that are suffering for their sake.
BTW - I spoke to a marina employee just yesterday who said boat sales are down 60%.
July 13th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
The warning was warranted. Four people drowned over 4th of July weekend:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/07/07/drought_drownings.html
These pictures of Lake Lanier are definitely worth a look, as it shows the dropoffs:
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/lanier0705/
July 13th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I myself don’t derive any value from the mussels. But I think its more complicated than that. I think every species deserves to survive. The mussels may feed a fish, wich may feed another species, which many feed a bird, which may feed something else. It’s a chain of nature and we shouldn’t be too quick to break that chain. Who is to say one day that chain won’t reach us? I do beleive the release of water from Lanier involves more than just the Mussel issue though.
As for boat sales, they are down everywhere, not just on Lanier. Though it may be more pronounced over there. It’s pretty much a disaster here in Fl. as well when it comes to boat sales.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Water Bored - I think the figure is 98 or 99 percent of every species that has ever roamed the earth is now extinct. We can’t stop that from happening, we can only make sure that mankind doesn’t cause those extinctions when it is avoidable. This is not a situation of mankind killing off a species. In fact we have gone to extraordinary lengths to save it.
How much would you personally sacrifice to save that mussel species? Would you give up your life savings? I doubt it, but you do understand that there are people up here in exactly that position. How can you ask them to give up so much when you wouldn’t do it yourself?
July 20th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
But destroying the ecosystem that supports the mussel doesn’t change the climate conditions bringing drought to the watershed supplying Atlanta with water. And the mussel is merely one aspect of the ecology that has been studied and brought to the attention of the public, just as the low levels of the lake causing deaths of boaters is another aspect.
Throwing things out of the lifeboat in an effort to keep it from sinking isn’t going to repair the leak that is causing the lifeboat to flood and sink.
As addressing the underlying climate issues will be slow, I’d say Atlanta needs to adapt to the reduced precipitation that seems to be the pattern.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:36 am
mulp Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 3:27 pm …..
As addressing the underlying climate issues will be slow, I’d say Atlanta needs to adapt to the reduced precipitation that seems to be the pattern.
–
JUMP DOWN TURN AROUND PICK A BALE OF COTTON
July 21st, 2008 at 7:30 am
Mulp - I thought you climate change people might go away after the floods in the midwest. I find it extremely unlikely that global warming is causing a drought here, and flooding 800 miles from here.
Why is it that Atlanta is the one that needs to change it’s usage but downstream users seem to have a right to more water than nature provides?
July 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am
I just took an extended road trip, up to Minnesota, over the top of Lake Superior, to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Fairfield County, CT (read: wealthy), and back home. (I did this in my Prius…averaging 62.7 mpg calculated over 4700 miles driven).
The point is this. Gas prices are killing the businesses and industries that were designed to thrive at $1.30/gl prices. Marina’s up and down the Mississippi, on Lake Superior, and even in the super-wealthy places like Martha’s Vineyard and Fairfield County, CT, are seeing drastic reductions in boat sales and services (gasoline, etc.) Why? Because operating a 300+ hp boat that consumes 15-20 gls/hr to operate has become financially painful. One fellow, who’s Hatteras 54C (beautiful boat!) is equipped with twin 800 hp engines, which gulp 130 gls/hr at 75% cruise to move approximately 26 miles. You can do the math. Even a well-to-do fellow starts to feel a pinch.
Consider your average run-about ski-boat on Lanier burning 10 gls/hr and you start to understand that a weekend of water-skiing will seriously impact the middle-class pocket-book. And this is at current prices. Every IEA and other energy agency indication is that fossil-energy prices have nowhere to go but up. Under such circumstances, who would rationally speculate in a discretionary purchase to which operation costs look increasingly unsupportable?
Bottom line: energy issues are as much or more responsible for the change in fortunes among Lake Lanier’s businesses as is the water level.
Perhaps it’s not the worst idea to address climate and energy issues as a comprehensive whole?
July 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Regarding protecting the mussels.
What would you think if the Department of the Interior put the kibash on mining or ranching operations that could bring millions to our economy because it endangered the habitat of the Gila monster?
Are you kidding? We lose jobs and low-cost goods and millions to save some lizards?
Well, it turns out the saliva of the Gila monster has properties that can help treat diabetes better than what we have now.
Look at how many people suffer from diabetes now.
And we’d want to lose this medicine so we do some mining or ranching? I think we’d feel pretty stupid.
I can’t imagine these mussels that are being protected are a few dozen gypsies who set up camp off the reservation and there are millions of the same elsewhere.
Not every environmentalist is a nutjob who does things without reason.
How much of the medicine we (and our family members use) come from plants and animals? Maybe all of them?
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Currently the question about Lanier and Mussels is moot - Lanier is releasing only enough water to dilute the sewage downstream that comes from Atlanta.
Further reseveroirs downstream are releasing the water needed for Mussels. Been that way through most of June and all of July.
Obviously it will resurface as an issue - Lanier IS the source of water for all the lower reseveroirs if rain doesn’t provide. But right now it’s not.
Gasoline prices may be a player in the business downturn, but it is not half the issue. Remember, it’s not that people can’t pay “four dollars a gallon” it’s “will they pay $1 more a gallon”. If you already own a boat, and can already afford to burn through 40 gallons of $3 gas, is an extra $40 for that day’s fun really going to stop you?
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Missing the bigger picture with the fuel issue. Peope are having to pay an extra $50 or more per car a week to commute, Food prices are increasing monthly because of fuel prices, businesses are way off and peoples homes are worth half of what they used to be. Credit card debt is soaring…………That extra $40 for a boat ride is not an option for many people any more. Low lake levels or not.
July 28th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Ah. I see the point you’re getting at now Water Bored. It’s not the extra price for the gas, but the original $120 (40 gals/3 per gal) for the boat trip in the first place you’re concerned with.
My point is that if your budget is so tight that an extra $20/car/week (20 gallons of gas, one tank a week) eats up all your entertainment money, then you probably don’t own a boat. Or certainly not a gasoline sucking monster of a boat.
We’ll see less boating on the whole because of gas prices. But I think much of Lanier’s loss is due to it’s present state.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Many people who own boats shouldn’t. Atleast boats over 23′.
But I agree, Lanier’s loss is mostly due to water levels.
I have been to Lazy Days Marina on lake Lanier in the past. The Beachem’s, the original owner’s of Lazy Days have got to be the smartest Marina owners on the lake . They sold that Marina for TOP dollar just weeks before the worst drought in history took hold. The new owners certainly didn’t do their Due Dilligence very well, or they would have seen it coming. People were talking about the coming problems of a severe drought even before it started. The new owners could’t get half what they paid for it now.