Lake Lanier water level (Atlanta, Hartwell: landscaping, live, pool)

[hello13685]

Hello Atlantans,

I've got some questions about your recent drought. Has it ended? If the worst of the "crisis" has passed, do you, in retrospect, think that the panic of December was a lot of media hype, or is there the sense that you narrowly averted the disaster that was written about? I'm assuming the drought has eased because nobody writes about it anymore.

I'm in San Antonio, and we expect to go into Stage 1 water restrictions this coming week. It seems that the whole southern U.S., from coast to coast, has had a bad spell, and that is worrying to me. I don't want us to end up having to have drinking water shipped into some of our cities like they are doing in Barcelona, Spain!

[cmills]

We're still under watering restrictions, but the total ban has been lifted. Lake Lanier is still very low, but is rising.

Everything is sensationalized on the news, isn't it?

[ked]

It's actually been steadily falling the past month: http://water.sam.usace.army.mil/gage/acf/prob1.txt

I think the drought conditions last winter were a little overhyped, but at the same time if you drive around the Southeast it's quite evident that there still isn't as much water around as there should be (Lake Hartwell on the border between GA and SC being a very visible example from I-85).

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by cmills

We're still under watering restrictions, but the total ban has been lifted. Lake Lanier is still very low, but is rising.

Everything is sensationalized on the news, isn't it?

The complete opposite is true. Most of the news media and the politicians have played down the fact that the drought is alive, well, and getting worse again as we go into summer.

Lake Allatoona has recovered, but Lanier is still 14 feet down from full pool and getting lower every day. The ACOE will have to increase downstream flows soon, and if we remain dry with no rain, Lainer could go below last year's record low.

[atlantagreg30127]

Correct. I do believe they said that as of right now, Lanier is actually lower this year than it was the same date last year. So if we get a long dry spell that equals last years, then yes, the drought will be worse than last summer, actually (and eventually restrictions will get even tighter).

Lake Allatoona (Cobb) is doing better than it was at this same time last year, but it has a completely different basin (larger) than Lanier. So while it fills up more easily, it drains more easily too, so it's a yoyo thing with Allatoona.

So far it SEEMS like the rain we've been getting is more frequent, but in truth we're just getting more frequent sudden pop-up thunderstorms so far this Spring/Summer than we had last year. They work ok for watering lawns and landscaping plants, but they're not doing much in terms of raising lake levels. They keep saying that we need a tropical "event" (translation, a hurricane that comes inland in our direction) to help refill the lakes effectively.

[netdragon]

How's the new Hickory Log Creek dam and reservoir going? The site for the dam hasn't had a new article since 2007.

[wxjay]

The drought is alive and well here in GA. Lake Lanier's lake level is a visible sign of it, but the real signature is in soil moisture. Values are getting dismal, even in South Georgia, indicating that the drought is expanding.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by hello13685

Hello Atlantans,

I've got some questions about your recent drought. Has it ended? If the worst of the "crisis" has passed, do you, in retrospect, think that the panic of December was a lot of media hype, or is there the sense that you narrowly averted the disaster that was written about? I'm assuming the drought has eased because nobody writes about it anymore.

This web site is a good resource.