For the second time in barely four years, we're back in the grip of a severe drought here in Georgia. The worst of it is well downstate, far south of Bumbo's home on Lake Lanier, where the levels have dropped only half as far as they did in 2007. But as of this posting, the lake -- the major source of drinking water for a metro area of 5 million -- is just over nine feet below full pool.
The lake was created in the 1950s with the damming of the Chattahoochee River, which flows south toward Florida. Just above the state line, it joins the Flint River to form the Apalachicola, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle. According to an acquaintance who works for a conservation group, the Army Corps of Engineers is having to release more water down the Chattahoochee from Lanier to make up for the sharply reduced volume of the Flint. The effect has been to add about 100 extra feet of shoreline on Lanier so far.
We're getting some rain this week, bringing leaden skies and blustery winds (and some hairy sailing) ahead of it Sunday. Here's hoping for a bit more in the next few weeks.
