The abnormally dry weather across metro Atlanta and the rest of North Georgia is beginning to have an impact on lake levels at the area’s two largest reservoirs.
Lake Lanier’s level on Tuesday of 1,064.89 feet above sea level was just over six feet below “full pool,” which is 1,071 feet. Still, that level is about 14 feet above the lake’s record low mark of 1,050.79 feet recorded on Dec. 28, 2007, at the height of that decade’s severe drought.
The level at Lake Allatoona -- 833.61 feet -- was also just over six feet below that reservoir’s full pool of 840 feet above sea level.
Tim Rainey, Lanier’s operations project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that the lake’s level has already dropped about a foot below the “initial impact line” where the swimming areas on the lake’s beaches are significantly diminished.
“Any time the lake’s dropping, we do encourage boaters to watch out for [underwater] obstructions,” Rainey said.
Rainey added that with levels down, it’s even more important for boaters to wear life jackets.
The lower lake levels are also beginning to impact some property owners around the lake.
Rainey said that at the current level, approximately 10 to 15 percent of the lake’s docks “are impacted, meaning they have less than two feet of water and they couldn’t get their boats to them.”
No significant rainfall is expected for the rest of this week. The chance increases, however, on Monday and Tuesday next week.
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