News Reports on Lane Lanier - November 2007

Mussels over Man!
 

Lake Lanier ebbs to historic low

By ALISON YOUNG
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/17/07

The water level in Lake Lanier continued to trickle downward Saturday, but as of 7 p.m. remained slightly above the record low set 26 years ago, according to hourly readings posted by the U.S. Geological Survey on its web site.

The water level in Lanier, the drinking water supply for metro Atlanta, was 1,052.80 feet above sea level at 7 p.m. Saturday. The bottom of the lake is at 919 feet above sea level. The record-low water level — 1,052.66 feet — was set in December 1981, also during a severe drought.
 

SCOTT BERNARDE/ Staff
Buford: The 2007 drought has closed of most of the boat ramps at Lake Lanier. The loading dock at Shoal Creek boat ramp is more than 15 feet from the water's edge.
 

On Friday, November 16, 2007, the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers began reducing the amount of water released to Florida from Lanier and some other federal reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River. Also, the amount of water released from Buford Dam for hydroelectric power is generally less on weekends
 than it is on weekdays.

 

Drought Week in Review

Published on: 11/18/07

• Norcross-based Pike Family Nurseries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming the drought. Pike said it will keep most of its 22 nurseries in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina open and plans to keep 750 employees on the payroll.

• Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation shut off outdoor drinking water fountains.

• More than 250 people joined Gov. Sonny Perdue and his wife on the Capitol steps to pray for drought-ending rain. A small group of protesters was forced to stay a block away from the vigil.

• A Cobb County homeowner who in one month used 440,000 gallons of water at his 14,000-square-foot home on 3.8 acres told officials he was working to cut back. Chris G. Carlos' water meter showed daily use of about 2,000 gallons, according to the county. The average Cobb household uses 217 gallons.

• Two lawmakers from Gwinnett County said a consensus on a statewide water management plan is likely to be reached before a January vote in the General Assembly. The plan calls for Georgia to study how much water is flowing through its rivers and to find ways to allocate water statewide.

• Clayton County announced a conservation-oriented water rate increase for next year that offers smaller increases for households that use less water, and no increase for those consuming the least.

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to a plan to keep more water in Lake Lanier. With that approval, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started reducing downstream releases. The corps had been required to release more than a billion gallons from the lake every day, partly to ensure the survival of federally protected mussels downstream.

— Compiled by Nisa Asokan - AJC