Lake Lanier Georgia - Lake Lanier Drought Marinas Parks

Its been a busy start to the year for the Lake Lanier Islands:

• They received a $15,000,000 loan from the Georgia government for the construction of a new 500,000 gallon-per-day wastewater treatment plant.
  

We've reached the end of Lake Lanier's annual upswing. Normally the lake level falls in the summer and rises again in the winer. After two months of rising water levels, the lake has started to drop again. The fall has been only about a tenth of a foot but as the temperature rises during the summer we'll get less rain and more evaporation from the lake.

For those of you hoping for the lake to return closer to normal, it might be next winter before we see another meaningful rise in lake levels.

Its a familiar feeling for people who live around Lake Lanier ... "oh, you're from Gainesville, it must be nice down there in Florida ..."

The Gainesville/Hall County Convention and Visitors Bureau is now acknowledging the fact that most people know this part of North Georgia for Lake Lanier. They're planning to rename themselves as the Lake Lanier Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The drought has actually had some advantages for the lake, giving in national name recognition.

Lake Lanier is getting ready to host the Canadian canoe/kayak Olympic Team Trials at the beginning of May.

Its a prestigious event because the Canadian team has enjoyed great success in recent Olympics. They've been able to pay to have a 1,500 meter course set up on the lake.

Amongst all the bad news for the lake this year, its easy to lose site of the fact that there have been a lot exciting developments announced. Businesses are still enthusiastically investing in the area. Here are the top six projects on the drawing board for Lake Lanier:

Lake Lanier Fishing licenses are going up in price and may be a littler harder to purchase

The Department of Natural Resources has decided to outsource fishing licenses, which means that some bait-and-tackle stores may not be able to sell the licenses.

The cost of licenses will go up by $2.75. It will still be possible to buy licenses online or via the telephone.

East Bank Park, Van Pugh North, Clarks Bridge and Charleston Park have all been extended. Both Shoal Creek Park and Tidwell Park were long enough to remain open despite the low water levels.

Balus Creek Park is next on the list.

There have been a lot of mistakes and dumb ideas leading up to the current water problems around Atlanta, but the Georgia Senate is about to produce the best of all. Their solution:

Conquer parts of Tennessee.

Gainesville City Council decided to use the drought as an opportunity to clean up Longwood Cove on Lake Lanier. Longwood Cove is close to Gainesville High School and is one of the more polluted areas of the lake.

Project engineer Paul Krippner said he plans to start work early next month:.

"We will hopefully go from about 50,000 yards to about 130,000 cubic yards of silt," Krippner said. "That means we'll be able to address a larger area and maybe go deeper.

Before last week, only Tidwell Park and Shoal Creek still have open boat ramps but theres now one more thanks to a great community effort ... Clarks Bridge Park.

Lake Lanier Rowing Club provided $1000, local businesses have donated $2800 in cash and $3000 in supplies. The boat ramp was left dry as water levels dropped and needed extra concrete to reach the new low water level.

Georgia World Congress Center this week was a great place to measure people's confidence in Lake Lanier. Do buyers at the 46th Annual Atlanta Boat Show still want to spend $100,000s on big boats?

The answer was ... maybe. The AJC reports that half-million dollar boats were still being purchased because "there's still plenty of room in the lake's main channel". About 40,000 visitors are expected with sales of around 700 boats.

Special report from Ken Sturdivant: The United States Corp of Engineers has been working with the private sector to improve ramps around Lake Lanier. Many ramps out of the water now are being repaired by the Corp.

As the water rises this spring, many ramps will reopen a lot sooner as a result of the work the Corp has done.

The inevitable happened yesterday ... Lake Lanier sank below its record low.

The lake hit 1,052.64 feet above sea level, beating the old record of 1,052.66 set in December 1981. That problem was solved by six months of monsoon-like rain during 1982 but its highly unlikely that we'll be so lucky this time. Currently the most optimistic predictions forsee the lake refilling in three year.