AP Photo/David Goldman
An audio version of this story.
There’s a lack of water at Lake Lanier.
The lake, which is the source of Atlanta’s drinking water, is roughly eight feet below full pool, according to the Lake Lanier Association.
It’s a low not seen in nearly four years.
“We don’t have a giant river like you will see in cities like Pittsburgh and when we go into periods of drought we see our water supplies like Lake Lanier start to recede pretty quickly,” said Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Jason Ulseth.
The low levels at Lanier come as Georgia and Florida will go before a special master of the Supreme Court next week to make their case for water from the river basin. And the water levels at the lake aren’t expected to rise soon.
“All of the models and forecasts that we’ve seen have shown that the drought will extend into the early parts of at least 2017,” Ulseth said.
The hope is that the new year will bring more rain.
“The January-February-March timeframe is typically our rainy season so that’s usually when we play catch-up. So fingers crossed, hopefully we’ll see some rain, ” says Joanna Cloud, with the Lake Lanier Association.
Cloud says so far nearly two dozen boat ramps on Lanier have closed because of low levels.
More closures are expected as levels continue to fall.
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