AJC 360: Changing water levels of Lake Lanier

Lake Lanier holds 637 billion gallons of water and provides drinking water for more than 5.7 million Georgians. But when the state experiences a drought water levels plunge at this man-made lake and Atlanta’s main water supply.

Graph courtesy of Joanna Cloud, executive director of the Lake Lanier Association.

In late 2007, Lake Lanier sank to new lows. The sinking lake levels forced marinas to shutter and exposed the remnants of a long-inundated race track, forcing local governments to dust off long-forgotten emergency plans. At one point, metro Atlanta had less than 90 days of water supply left.

CUMMING, GA: This photo from late 2007 shows a vast area of usually water-covered boat ramp borders the also usually water-covered areas of Lake Lanier as volunteers scour the drought-revealed lake bottom for trash and debris at Mary Alice Park in Cumming, GA. The 2007 drought pushed Lake Lanier way below its full-pool level of 1071 feet. (Kimberly Smith/staff)

Joanna Cloud, executive director of the Lake Lanier Association, is one of many studying why water decreases have such a high impact on the state of Georgia, and what population growth means for the future.

Hear from Cloud in the above 360 video on how water level decreases at Lake Lanier impact the state of Georgia and metro Atlanta.

How we got this story: 

This story was produced in partnership with the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Grady College was one of 10 schools that was awarded funds from the Online News Association to experiment with new technology in collaborative local news coverage to improve training for students and generate meaningful lessons for digital news. You can learn more about the program here. 

LAKE LANIER, GA -- Aerial photo of Lake Lanier on Friday, Jan. 4, 2007. The record low level of the lake occurred in December of 2007 when the lake fell to an elevation of 1050.79 ft, approximately 20 feet below its full level. ALLEN SULLIVAN/Staff

Drought resources:

GAINESVILLE, GA: This photo from the 2007 drought of Lake Lanier shows how Georgia's record drought left many boats and docks on on the lake, high and dry. According to the Lake Lanier Association, the lake is project to be at a healthy elevation of 1071 or above for just about 15 percent of summer days in this decade. PHIL SKINNER / Staff