Lake Level Six Feet Below Full Pool

ATLANTA – The water level at Lake Lanier continues to drop and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has declared that a Level 1 drought exists in Dawson, Lumpkin, White and 50 other north Georgia counties.

The lake level has dropped more than 10 feet since the start of this year. On Dec. 31, 2016, the lake was at 1,075.18, more than four feet above full pool level of 1,071 feet mean sea level. By late June, it had plunged nearly eight feet to 1067.78.  Since then, it has dropped two more feet to 1065.35 as of Saturday.

The current drought is not nearly as severe as the one in 2007 but officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the EPD and local business and government leaders are concerned. After all, Lake Lanier is the engine that drives the economy of many lake counties.

EPD Director Richard Dunn said, “Water utilities have already taken action to ensure that water supplies are generally good, and practicing effective water conservation will help provide sufficient supplies through the coming months if dry conditions persist.”

In June, Army Corps of Engineers Natural Resources Manager Nick Baggett said the Corp would initiate low-level management action plans if the level drops to 1,066 feet, or five feet below full pool.

Now that the lake has fallen below that level, it is unclear whether those plans have been initiated.

Boat ramps the Corps operates are usually the first to go. “We’ve got dozens of boat ramps around the lake that the corps manages and at certain elevations, the boat ramps start to be unusable.”

Baggett said recently that the lake isn’t at a crisis point yet but he urged officials, as well as people who either live on the lake or use it for recreation, to keep an eye on its water levels and use caution.