Lake Lanier Info

5 Reasons Why the Lake is Dropping

It doesn't rain any more. We're 18 inches down on where we should be for the year. Streams and rivers entering the lake are headed for record lows. The more the lake drops, the faster it drops. The lake isn't shaped like a bath, but more like a funnel, with the old Chattahoochee River at the bottom. So, to drop the first 10 feet, the lake has to lose a lot of water. To lose the next 10 feet, the lake has to lose much less water. Sturgeons, the purple bankclimber mussel and the fat three ridge mussel. The Corps is legally obliged to send enough water down to the Apalachicola River to keep their habitat alive. Because of this, and increased demand for drinking water, the Corps is releasing 2 to 3 times more water now than during past droughts The Corps and its mistakes. Remember the faulty gauge last year? The amount of water mistakenly drained would have been enough to support Atlanta for 118 days. Us. We who live here. The typical North Georgian uses between 70 and 90 gallons of water per day at home, averaged throughout the year, but usage is 30 percent to 50 percent higher in the summer months. Theres too many of us, using too much water Comments (16) Subscribe to this comment's feed ... written by jan , October 07, 2007 Holy Cow! Why is this happening? Is the average citizen concerned? ... written by austin , October 08, 2007 also consider that there are 5 hydroelectric dams down river from us that must have sufficient flow to produce juice... ... written by kev , October 09, 2007 Why do the courts just support the activists on issues like the sturgeons. Wouldn't a forward thinking judge require those people to do something constructive during his court order to release water, i.e. build dikes or dams in the area(s) effected as a reserve specifically for that purpose. Make them spend their time raising money for projects and show pro-activity to maintain the order. Otherwise the activists always win. All they have to do is whine and get a lawyer. I don't want to see any species of wildlife die out, but, if there were no dams and we had a drought like this there would be no reserve to release, i.e. their fate would be strickly up to nature. When does the people drinking water supply outway the wildlife???? ... written by BOB , October 09, 2007 I AGREE, WILDLIFE FATE SHOULD BE UP TO NATURE,IF THE DAMN WERE NOT HERE, WHERE THEN WOULD ALL THIS"EXTRA" WATER COME FROM?..GUESS FLORIDA BETTER LAWYER.. ... written by Undefined , October 12, 2007 BOB you have a fundamental misunderstanding as to what is happening, the water problem wouldn't be nearly as pervasive if there were no humans living there. Not to mention that the reason that the creatures are so rare is partly due to humans. ... written by KEL , October 17, 2007 ALL OF YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND, WE DID NOT CREATE NATURE, GOD CREATED IT ALL, AND SO WE SHOULD QUIT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WATER AND START BEING THANKFUL FOR WHAT WE DO HAVE, COULD YOU LIVE IN IRAQ WITH ALL THE SAND AND NO WATER? CAN'T YOU JUST APPRECIATE WHAT YOU DO HAVE? ... written by jack , October 22, 2007 i wish that they would empty lake lanier completely and tare down the dam that would shut up the idiots who want the clams saved and humans to die of thirst ... written by todd , October 23, 2007 what in the world does humans living there have to do with less water. humans have prefered living next to water since they were created. thats just survivial common sense 101.its a drought not rocket science. ... written by Townsend , October 24, 2007 Money is the root of all evil??? or water shortages??? Sturgreon? Look at the money margins! ... written by Chris , October 24, 2007 I wonder when people are going to wake up and realize that you cannot continue to "outbuild" the water supply. These building contractors build first and worry about problems later. It's not hard to see where all this is going. What good is an increase in property taxes from new homes if the water supply will not sustain? Am I the only one that sees that all the growth in these areas has "outgrown" the water supply? Even if you were not 18' below rainfall for the year you can still build and build until there isn't enough water to sustain the amount of homes being built. I am very much a capitalist, but you have to know when it is getting out of hand. Greed for property tax dollars will eventually ruin that state if someone doesn't slow down the building. ... written by Jack Handy , October 26, 2007 Too many people. Water is a finite resource. Keep building new subdivisions and watering those nice green lawns. The water gets used up faster and faster each passing year. ... written by Jody , February 17, 2008 The last three emails hit the nail on the head. Not to mention having 3-4-5 kids that will eventually need their own home and use more water and natural resources. There needs to be some form of population control as well. 6.7 billion people on earth where in 1950 there were only 2.5 and 5 in 1990. We passed the earths sustainable limit in 1985. We all have affluenza!! Wake up!! ... written by Alex , March 05, 2008 As much as some want to control population, how exactly are you going to accomplish that without reincarnating Hitlers of the past? So, Jody do your part and tie your tubes so the Earth's population can be at least somewhat stable without your "3-4-5 kids". You need proper zoning req's, not population control. ... written by Plumtony , March 15, 2008 Droughts are a naturally occurring phenomena. Here today, gone tomorrow. In a few months it will be a memory. In the meantime too many people are scurrying about screaming about the END of time. People these days just have no context in which to judge the relativity/ importance of an event like this. I`m just sure that the Oklahomans thought God was sealing the envelope when the dust storms arrived. Look, you have good times and bad times. You learn how to adapt and hang in there until it all passes. Quit having knee-jerk responses with dire declarations of doom and gloom. Chill!!! ... written by Greg , May 09, 2008 What's the level of lake Lanier today? 5/8/08, And what website keeps daily track of the lakes level? ... written by Steve , May 09, 2008 Hi Greg On the frontpage of this site theres a tracker that updates daily. Currently the lake is down 13.46 ft Write comment Comment Name Email Add Comment