Lanier At Low, Drought Likely To Worsen

By Stacy Shelton

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/11/08

Lake Lanier is receiving only 26 percent of its normal inflows this month, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The lake level is at a record low for this time of year, and state climatologist David Stooksbury said last week that drought conditions are expected to worsen across North Georgia over the next several months.

Our best chance of a respite is a hurricane or tropical storm, though such storms usually occur in late summer. "For the next several months, Georgia's best chance for widespread drought relief will be tropical disturbances," Stooksbury said.

For the year, the water flowing into the lake from the Chattahoochee and Chestatee rivers and other streams is less than half the norm. Both rivers are flowing near their record lows for this date.

At the same time, the Corps has increased the amount of water it is releasing from the lake to meet metro Atlanta's water supply and wastewater needs, and for other downstream demands.

Lanier is about 14 feet below full, lower than it has ever been at this time of year.

For more drought information, go to www.georgiadrought.org. To view real-time stream flows, go to waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/rt. To view data about lakes Allatoona and Lanier, go to water.sam.usace.army.mil/.