Apalachicola River

From Atlanta Water Shortage Wiki

The Apalachicola River is a Florida river, approximately 112 mi (180 km). The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately 19,500 sq mi (50,505 km²) into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northwest Georgia is approximately 500 mi (800 km). Its name comes from the Apalachicola tribe, which used to live along the river.

It is formed on the state line between Florida and Georgia, near the town of Chattahoochee, Florida, approximately 60 mi northeast of Panama City, by the confluence of the Flint River and Chattahoochee Rivers. The actual confluence is submerged in the Lake Seminole reservoir formed by the Jim Woodruff Dam.

Just below the dam sits the Herbert Scholz Generating Plant. The river flows into the Gulf of Mexico through the Apalachicola Bay. The salinity of the bay is balanced by the fresh water of the river mixing with the salt water from the Gulf. If the river gets too low due to the drought, various marine species in the bay are at risk due to the increasing saltiness of their water.

Except for the area around its mouth, the river provides the boundary between the Eastern and Central time zones in the United States.