Lake Lanier Water Levels Print
The water level down is: 0.81 ft
TodayTomorrowFridaySaturdaySundayMonday
Rain Showers, Probability Of Precipitation: 100%Chance Thunderstorms, Probability Of Precipitation: 100%Thunderstorms Likely, Probability Of Precipitation: 70%Chance Rain Showers, Probability Of Precipitation: 30%Mostly Cloudy, Probability Of Precipitation: 20%Partly Sunny
Rain Showers
53°F | 48°F

Chance of rain: 100%		Chance Thunderstorms
61°F | 47°F

Chance of rain: 100%		Thunderstorms Likely
66°F | 48°F

Chance of rain: 70%		Chance Rain Showers
60°F | 43°F

Chance of rain: 30%		Mostly Cloudy
59°F | 43°F

Chance of rain: 20%		Partly Sunny
61°F | 43°F

Chance of rain: 10%

Lake Lanier Basics

Lake Lanier, a man-made reservoir in the northern portion of Georgia, was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956.  It is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River, a river in the Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia that begins at the confluence of Dicks Creek and Frogtown Creek in Lumpkin County.

The lake encompasses 38,000 acres of water, and 692 miles of shoreline at normal level, a "full summer pool" of 1,071 feet above mean sea level. At the dam, the lake is more than 160 feet deep. The lake is in Hall, Forsyth, Dawson, Gwinnett, and Lumpkin counties, split about 60%, 30%, 5%, 4%, and 1% respectively, filling the valley into numerous small arms and fingers.

Current Water Levels, Trends and Forecasts

Current year water level information, historical averages and four week water level forecasts as they relate to the Lake Lanier Action Zones.

Historical Water Level Data

The record low level of the lake occurred in December of 2007 when the lake fell to an elevation of 1050.79 ft, approximately 20 feet below its full level.The record high was in April of 1964 when the lake reached elevation 1077.2 ft, approximately 6 feet above its full level.

Factors Affecting Water Levels

Lake Lanier's water level will rise and fall depending upon several factors including periods of drought or heavy rain, hydropower production, flood control, and downstream fish and wildlife management. Water supply is also cited as a factor and is currently at issue regarding the lake's ultimate list of legal purposes (see Controversy section).

Effects of Low Water Levels

In addition to an overall unappealing look, there are many tangible downsides to low water levels at Lake Lanier. They range from stress on area businesses that depend on a high volume of lake activity to lakefront home values to how often someone in Atlanta may water their lawn.

Water Level News Archive

Browse articles relating to Lake Lanier water levels in our archive.

Controversy Over the Reservoir's Purposes and Court Case Information

One of the main purposes of the lake is flood control downstream of the lake, mainly protecting metro Atlanta. There have only been two major flooding events on the downstream section since the construction of Buford Dam. The most recent flooding event was in 2004, after the remnants of two major hurricanes (Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan) dropped huge amounts of rainfall across the area.

Watershed and Basin

The Lake Lanier Basin encompasses a relatively small section of North Georgia.

 

Comments (8)Add Comment
0
william
August 24, 2009

we need to stop taken water from the lake cuz it is going to hurt us all. and u people need to know that it will cuz if we do there wont be much water left for us

0
Trevor Chatfield
September 17, 2009

I used to ski on lanier in the late sxties it was always full now Alpharetta is flooding and COE still is dumping They are idiots

0
Sig
September 22, 2009

why is the dam still open and adding more water to our flooded creeks?

0
Bob
October 06, 2009

As we tear out the sheetrock in what use to be our home, we want to thank the COE for the extra flooding instead of filling up the lake.

0
Engineer
October 12, 2009

The lake is completely full now. Praise the Lord! Goes to prove there was never a water shortage concern. Sooner or later, the rain always comes. The lake will never run dry! Only the people who live on the lake or use the lake for business were concerned, and I guess rightly so. Everyone else was running on panic mode, especially the news media, AS USUAL. It made a good story. Now, they will have to find some new "crisis" to dwell upon.

0
Sailor
October 22, 2009

Engineer, have you not followed how the Corps mismanaged the out flows during the drought? Yes, we didn't have rain. That was a big problem; but, the CoE made the problem FAR worse by letting out as much as 5-10 times the amount of water taken in. Why? Because they did not admit that there was a problem to begin with.

The lake will never run dry? You are joking right? It almost did last year. Only the huge outcry by the public and the media changed the way the CoE did business.

0
lashay
November 04, 2009

oky i dont get it because the lake was low at first and now its above sea level what if it flood over or something alot of people or going to get hurt or dont have no where to stay but you also got to look at mother nature smilies/wink.gifxoxoxoxoxoxoxsmilies/grin.gif//////smilies/kiss.gif

0
Jack Markey
February 10, 2010

We wouldn't have the problems if the Corp would raise the water level to 1076 and use flow of X when level is not rising, X+1 when lake is rising, and X-1 when lake is falling. Constant flow doesn't compute when Chatachooche is full as well as Lake George/Eufalla.

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