Corps to begin releasing water from Lanier in anticipation of wet winter

By Mike Morris and Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

First came years of drought. Then weeks of rain.

Now Lake Lanier is too full -- if you can believe that.

With heavier than usual rain forecast for winter and spring, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began releasing lake water Wednesday to bring the reservoir’s level down about 18 inches.

Corps spokesman Pat Robbins said that should put the lake at 1,070 feet above sea level, the normal winter full pool level.

That’s a major turnabout from a year ago when docks stuck out like dry sticks from Lanier mud flats. Managing the lake level helps the Corps’ flood-fighting abilities, Robbins said.

Some local residents and officials disagree about how high the lake should go, but for now they’re just happy to have too much water.

“Everybody is overjoyed about it and surprised it came back so quickly,” said Wilton Rooks of the Lake Lanier Association. “We sort of expected the Corps to go back to somewhat normal operations.”

Recent record rains pushed Lanier, metro Atlanta main source for drinking water, to the full summer pool level of 1,071 feet on Oct. 12 for the first time since 2005. The lake’s level Wednesday morning was 1,071.5 feet, and Robbins said the releases should bring the level down to 1,070 feet by Dec. 1.

The lake’s record low was 1050.79 feet on Dec. 26, 2007. The record high was 1,077.2 feet in April 1964.

Robbins said the Corps regularly releases water to manage the shoreline when there’s enough water. Since last November, the dam has only released water to meet downstream flow requirements and reduced those releases to minimize flood damage downstream. Nobody will notice the extra releases except people a mile or so below the dam, he said.

But residents have certainly noticed the rising lake. Teresa Smith remembers watching friends take their houseboat onto an island a month ago to build a bonfire.

“Now there’s no fire pit,” she said. “There’s no island.”