Lake Lanier has dropped to its lowest water level in nearly a decade, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has no choice but to keep releasing water through Buford Dam even as the lake gets almost no rain to refill it. Atlanta relies on Lake Lanier for drinking water, and with the region stuck in drought, officials have already begun shutting down boat ramps and warning paddlers and boaters to watch for hazards that are normally hidden underwater.
The Army Corps began federal drought operations on Monday as the lake fell to its lowest level since January 2017, landing about 8 feet below full pool, according to forsythnews.com. A report listed the lake at 1,062.57 feet above sea level, while gainesvilletimes.com described it as a nearly decade low.
As CBS News Atlanta reports, the Army Corps has said it must release more water through Buford Dam to meet downstream needs even though the lake itself is receiving little rain to refill it. That squeeze is playing out across the wider Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin, where the Corps’ Mobile District began drought operations Nov. 2, according to WSB-TV, which also reports that dry conditions have pushed streamflow to below-normal levels, with record lows recorded at multiple locations.
Why the Corps Keeps Draining a Shrinking Lake
It sounds counterintuitive, but the station reports the Corps is increasing releases from Lake Lanier precisely because drought conditions persist and rainfall has run below normal for months. James Hathorn of the Army Corps explained it this way, per WSB-TV’s reporting: “these releases are an additional amount to help with the downstream reservoirs.” The goal, in other words, is keeping water moving to communities and ecosystems below the dam, even as the lake’s own level keeps falling…