Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

[flashback]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

I don't blame the corp for what happened to lanier, the just follow federal guidlines, I blame atlanta..It has out grown it's britches so to speak...

 

[Rinkerguy24]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

Wow, now that is some low water..I guess we need to quit complaining about how flooded ours are....the lakes are between 7-25 ft over.. we have had 40 inches of rain this year YTD and have broken the record of 37 in in 1915....

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

I don't blame the corp for what happened to lanier, the just follow federal guidlines, I blame atlanta..It has out grown it's britches so to speak...

Uh oh, the water war daggers come out lol. Now they did let out 22 billion (Or million, not sure) gallons accidentally. How can you not blame them for that?
I do know GA is trying to take back land it says it owns from Tennessee that includes water.
Ya those antiquated federal guidelines. Way before the Corp started bring in billions in fees from lake home owners and other users of the lakes. New studies need to be done so that the guidlines can be upgraded to meet todays reality

 

[Nandy]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

That picture with the boat on the hoist is the worst. Think of the poor guy who couldn't get to the lake soon enough to get his boat off the hoist. Doh. He doesn't even have the option to take his boat to another lake at this point.

If I recall right, GA guys keep me straight, Lanier did not drop overnight. It took some time but I guess most people were on disbelief that it would really get low enough...

 

[The Great Escape II]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

I don't blame the corp for what happened to lanier, the just follow federal guidlines, I blame atlanta..It has out grown it's britches so to speak...

You don't blame the Corp? I do blame them for letting out 20 BILLION gallons of water because they did not calibrate the new valve. They have also even said they should have reduce the flow sooner when it was predicted we are in a SEVERE drought. They need to raise their hand and say "something is wrong here and we need to address it" instead of relying on 50 year old regulations that have never been challenged. It's called adjusting with the times! This isn't about boating it's about poor management.

Blame Atlanta, we as a city have done and are on MAJOR watering restrictions and have been for over a year. Sure the city has gotten bigger but the other states that need water from this lake have not done their share. Atlanta and most of Georgia water usage is down over 10% and that is huge when you are talking about over 4.5 million in population in the city alone.

 

[The Great Escape II]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

If I recall right, GA guys keep me straight, Lanier did not drop overnight. It took some time but I guess most people were on disbelief that it would really get low enough...

You are correct. We saw levels really decrease starting last September and then it took a nose dive.

 

[The Great Escape II]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

Uh oh, the water war daggers come out lol. Now they did let out 22 billion (Or million, not sure) gallons accidentally. How can you not blame them for that?
I do know GA is trying to take back land it says it owns from Tennessee that includes water.
Ya those antiquated federal guidelines. Way before the Corp started bring in billions in fees from lake home owners and other users of the lakes. New studies need to be done so that the guidlines can be upgraded to meet todays reality

DayCruiser,
You beat me to it!! Agreed 100%
We can also discuss how bad the Corp has managed another, Lake Cumberland. That lake is the same age as Lanier 50 years old and they are dealing with dam failure. I would like to know how stable our Buford Dam is since both are earthen dams and ours is a 38,000 acre lake. Then you can throw New Orleans in the mix. The hurricane did not flood the area the levees that failed (BUILT BY THE CORP) flooded New Orleans.

They are the only govenment department that has NO accountablity.

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

I went down and checked out the Lake levels after the 3+ inches of rain we had. Used to be, the lake would go up after such a rain. Not this time. They went way down. Like after the 4th, they need to make up for lost power sales. So they are selling power like crazy to fulfill their contract. The lower part of the Savannah has had plenty of rain and is not desperate for water. So this has to be mainly power sales to half way around the country. This during a extreme drought in the upper part! Most fingers of the lake will be shut off from the main body of the lake. Most boat ramps will be closed. The 100s of fingers of the lake are not marked. So you run the risk of running into tree tops or ground, this is IF you have any water at all. At the rate they are dropping the Lake it will reach a crisis point 1st of August.
Right, the Corp is just doing its job when it concerns us. I am saying their job should be done with some compassion and maybe they should work with Congress to help us

 

[lncovert]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

I just recently moved to atlanta about 2 months ago. I'm trying to find a safe lake to ski in. Lake Lanier was definitely not safe (concrete blocks like in Great Escape's picture were 1 to 2 feet under the water. What about Lake Allatoona? Is it safe to ski in? I mean, are there concrete blocks lurking 1 to 2 feet underneath the surface of the water unmarked. The ones I saw at Lanier had no markers, ropes or bouys on them. I don't want to face-plant into one of those things while skiing or destroy a boat. I am new to this type of lake. In florida (Sante Fe Lake) and Mississipii (Okatibbee and Dalewood) we didn't have to worry about concrete blocks lurking 2 feet underneath the water. The lakes were only about 25 deep but they were never 1 foot deep (far away from shore) like lanier.

This page online shows a table of the lakes, their flood levels, their summer levels and 7am pool elev. Allatoona shows that the 7am pool elev is 2 feet below the summer level, but Lake Lanier is ~15 ft. below the summer level. Does that mean that Allatoona is close to its normal summer levels? So does that mean it's safe to ski in without hitting unmarked concrete blocks?

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/rrm.php

Thanks for your help.

 

[The Great Escape II]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

Allatoona you will be fine. There is still plenty of areas on Lake Lanier that are safe. You need to learn the areas, have a good depth finder and chart plotter/GPS. I also recommend a paper chart of the lake to look a the areas you want to go.

 

[lncovert]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

Ok, then I'm going to switch to Allatoona. I have a depth finder and GPS, but it took the fun out of it for me having to watch the depth finder like a hawk and only driving 5 mph...and eventually still hit the ground. There is no way I would ski there. I can't imagine hitting that concrete block while skiing. So if the water at Lanier rises 2 or 3 feet, the area where you posted that picture will be treacherous...how do people know about that mine field that is 2 feet below the surface??? I'm so confused. The concrete block I found at Lanier had no bouy or anything attached to it. What are those things for?

 

[The Great Escape II]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

Those blocks are at the marinas they are used to anchor the docks (because they are floating docks). Plus it's a no wake zone. So in most cases you won't hit them. Most of the marinas are marking them with bouys.

 

[uscboy]

Re: Boating In Drought Stricken Waters

Drove over Lanier and Hartwell this last weekend - Hartwell looks worse, but
both of them are shocking and really look horrible.