Lake Lanier

[Bob]

Interesting, Peggie

Actually I prefer the asteroid(s) = tsunami and nuclear winter torture for the end myself! I forgot when that one is predicted, but in the interim I still have to deal with a sailboat stuck in a rapidly drying lake, in a blocked dock, without anyway to pull it out! Hell, a skycrane could not help anyone stuck at this point. Call me paronoid, call me crazy, call me pestimistic, but I am a scientist by profession and I do not like the data and all the geologists, engineers and scientists I work with feel the same. I am probably speaking for hundreds of fellow sailors stuck right now and hopeing for the best. Of course its all about the sailboat! You cannot realistically comment on it without seeing it and living it. Its become a race against time and I have both feet tied on this one. Of course they will conserve water for several months, but its a different picture for the marina's nestled in coves. These stand a chance of emptying out faster as the water flows into the funnel (Chattahoochee river bed). If we get through this maybe I should buy everyone a drink!!ThanksBob

 

[cephius (Dave)]

Swap?

Bob,Swaping with me will do you no good. All the marinas closed mid October. Sitting on my boat gives a view of the inside of a farm barn!

 

[John5961]

Bob and Peggy

Hi guys,I really enjoy reading your posts as they are generally informative. However; I can't help but think that you both must have too much time on your hands. By the way, Pike (the largest nursey in the South) has filed for Chapter 11. Too bad that Benny and the "rest of the nation" don't think we have a serious problem. I bet the people who are losing their jobs and shutting down their businesses think it's serious.

 

[John5961]

pics of Lake Lanier

2 weeks ago http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=va7lrco.qrjv75w&Uy=5oep0m&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

 

[Bob]

Thanks

Thanks, but taking the time to inform my fellow sailors inland or coastal about our situation keeps it in the forefront. No problemo. Corps decided this afternoon to cut the flow out of Lanier by 5%, which means all downstream recipients will be happy including our Florida mussels. We all wanted 16%! I do not know how much time that buys us up here. Weather guys are looking at a wet pattern next week, but we shall see. In the meantime the great rain that came from all those prayer groups gave our shrubs and trees some relief this week, but not any measurable affect in Lanier. We looked at the guage today and the trickle down from the rain up north to the Hootch only added more to rapidly discharge. We are now at the historical record low. I concur that many do not see the situation strictly from a sailors stand point who are at Lanier. Its easy to be miles away in a comfortable coastal mooring with no worries, but this SUCKS folks! I prefer to get advise on how to survive this rather then hear about salt water intrusion in the great Floridan or Hawthorne aquifers with subsequent water restrictions!Whatever floats your boat.......Bob

 

[Bob]

Record Low Recorded and then Some!

Appreciate the photos. Each marina has its own plan. Figure every week another foot goes down one-two more end docks can no longer be used and are touching the mud. That means the sailboats with the 3+ foot keel docked closest to the shoreline are feelin the same. Boats start to move out toward deeper water, but their are hundreds if not thousands of boats hanging on here. The media has been saying, "the boats are gone now", but that's not the real story. Sure, the trailerable powerboats are no longer around, and only the daring head out, but I have yet to see any coverage on the huge number of sailboats, yachts and houseboats all stuck in this mess. Not all marina's are providing mooring areas and are limited by the number of mooring units they can drop. As water recedes, I will assume folks might double up at the end of the docks until we have the worlds largest raft up! Imagine that? The world's largest raft up?! What is news worthy is that the media is now using the word "dregs" to identify the remaining lake water due to the higher bacteria concentration. Don't forget Lake Lanier is the receiving stream for many municipal discharges. Several of which may not be thorougly treated and high in bacteria. So now we are hearing ozonation, higher chlorine contact and probably more sediment settling and filtration at the water treatment plants. If the "Hootch" stays a wonderful carmel brown color as she flows through Atlanta, despite of no rain, its obvious its pretty high in sediment and thats the "dregs" alright. Ordinarily the "Hootch" will flow as its usual green, which means sediment has settled, but that may be in the past now. As of today I have 29.5 feet of water under my keel and the clock is ticking. Rain is predicted this week, and everyone is excited! Imagine that?! At least the Corps has stated that the flow can be further reduced from the dam if levels keep going down. They soon will have no choice.Bob

 

[Bob]

The forthcoming rain will tell all

RAIN!!!!!!!!!! Its like singing, Maria from West Side Story....."how wonderful a sound can be"........The forecast is for rain showers this week and into next week. Chances run 30% to 65% depending where you are, but anything that can run, trickle, flow, percolate, leech or otherwise make it into the Lanier watershed is supposedly, "to be saved" according to the Corps and that is what we are banking on. We are now moving below the record low level and the draining of Lanier has now been reduced to 7-8 days per foot not 6-7 days per foot. Not a big deal when you think of only a 5% reduction as millions and millions of gallons roll out the dam and still swell the banks of the "Hootch". Still a disturbing site each morning and evening seeing the Hootch, fat, turbid and just rolling along.Now its impossible to remove a large vessel from the lake unless you have the money and means to bring in a large crane, make a barge and get your boat out, if you could even make it to a haul out point. The rains this week, if appreciable will have an impact, small but measurable, and the Corps will have to keep its promise that accumulated rain collected in the watershed that flows into Lake Lanier now is locked in. How the hell you figure that one out is beyond me, but it sounds promising anyways. Probably some rain guage read in some remote area where the rain amount is equated to inches of depth added or less withdrawn from the lake.Always a pleasureBob

 

[Ron]

Thanks & Keep info coming

Thanks for all the info. Still hoping to head down in the Spirng of '09. Hope my long legged 5'4" fin keel on my C-30 has enough water. Any more info can be sent to me off this site at redasilva15@yahoo.com. Sterling by the Lake is looking good.Ron

 

[Bob]

Still Dropping!!!

Why bother going up to the lake anymore? Its painful to see whats going on. Our marina sent out a letter to all dock users that some ramps that you walk down to access the docks are too steep and dangerous and they can now ferry you to your dock! Thats enlightening! All I can do at this point is watch the water go down about one to two inches per day. So with lowering lake levels comes the demise of the floating dock access ramp. The ramp to my dock is a steep 60%+ angle (for now). Add a somewhat rusty handrail and its a formula for disaster. The Lake level continues to drop at a slower rate, but still dropping. We are now in the 1051 range a foot below the record. Rain is in the forecast tomorrow and some areas can see as much as 3-inches, but which region? We still need that "gully washer" over and north of the lake to provide some relief. Nothing has changed besides the letters from the County Water Department advising me that I have to reduce consumption by 10%. I now wonder just how long the wait will be at the "do-it-yourself" yard when the water comes back up to get a bottom job done? The algal growth and scum has to be accumulating on my hull at a much more rapid rate now that more silt and sediment is in the mix. Always the optimistReporting from AtlantaBob

 

[Clyde]

NOAA Long Range Weather Forecast

It doesn't look good on the long-range weather forecast for this winter. But it doesn't mean that the long-range weather forecast is right. Based on NOAA forecast weather map the Houston area should be relatively dry this winter, but its been raining hard in the Houston area today. There was lighting and thunder with predictions of over an inch and up to two inches of rain in certain areas. The local weather forecast is rain today and tomorrow. The NOAA long range forecast is an average over the winter, so in the long run it might be true. The drought is based on a "La Nina" weather cycle which is lasting two years, instead of the usual one-year cycle.Fair Winds,Clyde Winter Precipitation Outlook http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/images/precipitationmap111507_midsize.jpg

 

[Bob4203]

Let it rain!

The weathermen tell us it takes a sustained rain with 4+ inches per event to have any affect on lake levels. I have to wonder if this is taking into account the millions of gallons per day that is discharged from Lanier. We might get 2-inches if we are lucky today. When it rains here as it is now, its wonderful for plants, lawns, trees and the hopes of all who are affected, but tommorrow the sun will shine for another week or so until the next front makes its way in. In the interim, the guage will show Lanier will continue to drop, but that drop will be reduced one-foot every 8-10 days. I am not a climatologist, but, "you don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows"! You lower a lake level and you have to make up for the loss somewhere. Everyday, on several sites a little box shows up and lets me know how many days of water are left in Lanier. A countdown clock! It will soon be time for the Corps to decrease the discharge rate or certainly debate the issue again with all parties downstream getting into the fray. Bob

 

[MoonSailer]

Water Rising!!!!

I just checked Georgia stream flows and they are going up some. Last night we had a lot of rain near Birmingham and our streams are rising. Hopefully a few good rains back to back will get lake levels rising too. I drove by Lanier Saturday and it looks low but there is still a lot of water in the lake. Up in East Tennessee some of the lakes are 45' low or lower. Lanier is serving it's purpose of providing water in times of drought. Lakes are not meant to stay full at all times. They have to be less than full just to catch water to prevent floods. With climate change lake levels may well become much more varible. In Nevada lake mead is at record low levels due to a sustained drought. Without the lake the region would really have a water shortage. Without lake Lanier Atlanta would be sucking every drop from the river!!!

 

[Bob4203]

Check the Army Corps Buford Dam Site

Take a look at the Army Corps Buford Dam lake readings (documented every year since 1957) and you will see that the Lake is not on the rise!!! Its dropping an average of one-tenth of a foot per day. The rate has slowed to this since the Corps cut down the flow by 5%. The watershed stream guages are wonderful news, but the emptying of the lake is surpassing the rate of inflow from these rain events with subsequent drainage into Lanier. In other words the Corps might allow Lanier to get much lower before the discharge flow rate changes. Atlanta was advised that measureable rain would be allowed to stay in Lanier. Say what?! Atlanta is certainly sucking its potable supplies from the "hootch", but so are the downstream power plants (Alabama) so you can have electricity. I do not know how the mussels and sturgeon are doing in the Appalachacola basin, but I am sure they will adapt. Lets take a look at the level in the next day or two after the rain has had a chance to drain into Lanier. Therein lies the tale. Indeed rain is wonderful.Bob

 

[Steve Dion]

This is a way of life in the West

Take a look at Lake Mead in So. Nevada. This seems to be the way of life with the lakes in the western parts of the U.S. Lake Folsom in California experiences this type of water shortage every couple of years. It is just too bad that those who have too much cannot share it with those that have too little. Maybe we need a water grid similar to the national power grid!

 

[Bob]

Some Relief

The rain has come and gone and the greatest benefit was to our south in several lakes downstream that got plenty of runoff. This allowed greater discharges into Florida and the Appalachacola basin as well as Alabama. The Corps as a result slowed down the flow from Lanier, but the water level is still going down. As long as it continues to go down; however slow this week, us boaters still remain stuck to our docks and at the mercy of the weather gods. I cannot equate this to the frustrations of not sailing in the winter months in the colder climates, because you can always take everything down, get the winterizing reversed and have your boat hauled to Miami!! No, this is purely and simply STUCK with no where to go because you cannot! I have come to realize through all this that 30+ years of sailing and being passionate about it with confinement now to a dock slip in a drying lake, can drive you a bit nuts!Bob

 

[Bob]

It Just Keeps Getting Depressing

I took my ususal drive over to Lanier this weekend to see where we are with the water levels. I always stop at Aqualand Marina, one of the lakes largest sailboat marinas that offers a great vista of the lake from the shoreside of the fuel dock. Well 85% of the fuel dock, which includes the transient areas, boat rental docks and pumpout docks are on dry land now. No mud bank, I mean dry! I do not even know if they are still operating the pump from the remaining dock. The bass power boats are scooting around as fishing must be fantastic with the lower level. Aside from them, I did not see very much on the lake saturday.From there I ventured up to my marina, Sunrise Cove to check out the level at that location. The indicator I use for level changes is the fuel dock and adjoining floating office as well. Here, the entire fuel dock is high and dry! The dock was disconnected from the office, which moved operations to the clubhouse, if I heard right. My Catalina 30 remains inside the anchor cables and quit stuck in place. Still over 25 feet of water under the keel. Just off the dock is a new chunk of land marked by the Corps Red Ball floats. Land like this is showing up everywhere while we continue to drop inches per day. I wished I had a bunch of photos to show. Perhaps next week I can get some to post so those following this thread, and its been over 3K hits can see just how miserable all this is down here. No great rain relief in sight this week. It seems everyone around us (Alabama and Tennessee) gets the prolonged torrential rain while our rain has been measured at less than an inch each event thus far this season. Bummer!!!!!!!!!!!Your roving Lanier observerBob

 

[John5961]

Starboard marina

If you think Aqualand and Sunrise look bad, you should see Starboard Maria.It has always been off limits to sailboats because of the narrow channel and a bridge, but now ALL of the boats are out of the water and the piers are ON THE GROUND. Not a few, ALL of them.Depressing. There is some speculation that the lake may never recover to it's former levels. People that live on the lake can't sell their homes and businesses are going under. Anyone interested in a class action lawsuit?

 

[Bob]

That Might Be Right

The drive to Aqualand, Sunrise Cove and other marinas along the lake requires a ride that takes you over the bridge that Starboard Marina boats must go under to get to the lake. From the bridge view the channel is blocked from the main marina (harbor) area. Its too narrow to allow anything but a kayak or canoe to get through. You can see hundreds of runabouts, cuddy cabins power boats, etc all on trailers overwhelming the parking lots. The docks are high aground and its all shut down now!! One word............SURREALISTIC!!The lake level is now getting close to the 1050 foot level. Just a few weeks ago the media was abuzz with the news of the "lowest level recorded to date" (1052 ft). Lanier is now a whopping 21 feet below normal pool. A great majority of vessels are still snug in their docks with plenty of water under the keels, but I cannot imagine what would happen if we get 10-15 feet lower. We will then be in the "dead pool" as the Corps calls it and the water in the marinas will recede faster as it funnels toward the main Chatahoochee River channel. Folks at some marinas in deep water are still getting out on the water into the deeper basins. Heck, they recently had a sailboat race and nine boats showed up! For others like myself, we are stuck because of blockages from support cables, exposed land masses, fields of tree stumps barely summerged and other dangerous obstacles. Volunteer groups cleaning the exposed shorelines of debris are now finding exposed "sunken" vessels and all kinds of objects as more landmass is exposed. Tens of millions of dollars worth of vessels are literally trapped. For now the hemmorage continues. BUT!, the rains will come......................won't they?!Bob

 

[Bob]

Why does'nt it rain here?!

Rain out west, snow up north, everyone is getting wet, some record breaking rains, several areas with massive flooding and all we hear is, "sunny today with the next chance of moisture in 2010"!!! Temperatures in the seventies this weekend and into next week in the balmy southeast. Gotta love it, but I would trade this anyday for RAIN! Geeze, I miss sailing my boat.On the news last night, more depressing photos of a lake receding; slower rate but receding, nontheless, One marina is starting to move docks and boats out into deeper water, the first sign of implementation of a contingency plan going into action. Others will follow as levels get lower and my prediction of the "worlds largest raftup" will make the news. Governor does not seem to be concerned, although contracts have been signed I understand to provide water trucks when the time comes. Imagine that? Water Ration Cards. Someone is confident and knows something, so for now I will assume they have this person locked up in a room checking their bunion on the big toe every day to see if it swells to a certain size. This is the sign that "rain is in the forecast". Or could it be that the tunnel draining the Great Lakes to the southeast is almost complete?! Nothing else to report.BobBob

 

[letterman]

just some thoughts

How far away from the ocean is Lanear? If they pipe oil, why not water from the sea, refined through reverse osmosis of course. I think some areas of the keys uses RO water. I am not sure it there is a significant amount of salt left after the process that woulds make it unsuitable, but, I bet this problem they have will happen sooner again than later.