Lake Lanier Georgia - Lake Lanier Drought Marinas Parks

Unfortunately, its that time of year again. Boat ramps are closing again on Lake Lanier.

We had a good winter with a good number of ramps reopened but the lake has been falling again during July and the situation isn't looking great.

Five people drowned in eight days on Lake Lanier during July:

• July 4th: Lung Mang (21) and Tha Thang (23) jumped in the lake to push their rented pontoon boat off a sandbar during a late-night rainstorm.
• July 4th: Aeriel Cotuc Chaudjay (17) drowned off Lanier Beach South. The teen apparently waded from shallow water into an area with a 15-foot drop-off.

Apparently the mussels aren't so endangered after all.

The Corps of Engineers was given approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to store more water and release less from Lake Lanier and other Chattahoochee River reservoirs. The change in releases has already been implemented.

Forsyth County will sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop the YMCA’s lease of Bethel Park on Lake Lanier, for a YMCA camp.

The county commissioners want "to make sure that the park is kept available for all the residents and not just a few".

Unfortunately it looks like the drought is reintensifying again

Lake Lanier, already at 14.4 feet below full and setting daily record low levels for this time of the year. The sun alone is evaporating more than two-tenths of an inch per day.

Lazy Days Marina in Buford received a big boost recently when it was chosen to National Marina Day on August 9th.

Apparently they chose Lazy Days and Lake Lanier as an example of how businesses can "overcome adversity – such as the one caused by the drought. Lazy Days turned negatives into positives."

With gas prices for your car rising steeply, what can you expect for your boat?

Last summer gas prices on varied from $3.50 to around $4.20. This summer expect to pay between $4.40 and $5.

If those prices are more expensive than you pay on land, its with good reason. On the lake, sales are seasonal, plus marinas need to pay for dock hands and environmental insurance to protect against spills.

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.