It was a brutally cold and wet weekend at Lake Lanier.  With temperatures below average for this time of year, it felt like February outside.  Lake Lanier received a little over an inch of rain this weekend and the COE has been battling the rain events to lower Lake Lanier for flood control.  Currently the water level at Lake Lanier is at 1072.11 and falling. 

The Water Contingency Task Force met on Friday to discuss plans for new water sources for Atlanta.  The team outlined three "C's" to determine the goals of the water management strategy.

1. Conserve - Repair sources of water loss and stop leaks in the water infrastructure. 

2. Capture - Look for ways to build new reservoirs and expanding existing reservoir around Atlanta.

3.  Control - Put into motion stricter water conservation and new building technologies to combat water loss.

Several methods for capturing water were discussed at the meeting including piping water from Lake Hartwell and also constructing a desalinization plant near Savannah.  The plan for piping water from Lake Hartwell (Savannah River Basin) was deemed to costly at $6,000 per million gallons of water produced.  Also counties along the Savannah River including Columbia County have stated that removing removing 100 million gallons of water from Lake Hartwell will slow the flow of the Savannah River.  Slowing down the Savannah River will strain the ability of the river to handle the wastes that are pumped into the river.  

Savannah is equally worried about the desalinization plant and pumping water into the underground aquifer for water storage.  The treated water is not as clean as the natural water inside the aquifer and forcing the treated water into the aquifer could create environmental problems for coastal residents. For now the task force states that using Lake Lanier is the most viable solution for providing water for Atlanta.