Hi lkbum!
I don't have a Suburban but I do have a Chevy Silverado. I was thinking about you with all the news stories about your lake and wondering what was the upshot of the drought and what it means for you.

No problems yet, but thanks for the heads-up.
I've got about 20k miles of eligibility left I guess.

Lakeguy,

Sorry for the delayed responce, I have been VERY busy lately.

Lake at full pool

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Lake Back in June (I think, will post a new shot later (it's about 6 feet lower now). I know this looks like a canal, but it is just a cove with low water.

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Bottom line on the drought is that we've had them before and we will have them again. But NOW, we have news reporters with nothing to do and no current horror stories to cover so we are front and center. It's amazing, you'd think the world was coming to an end and that the center of global warming was directly over Georgia, Alabama and Tennesse.

We have a US Army Corp mangaged lake and the reality is they have to let water out of the lake to generate electricity and make money for the South Eastern Power Assoication (SEPA). They generate a certain amount of power evey year and have done so since the lake was made. Our lake levels have little to do with Atlanta's usage (really in news) or endangered species downstream. Atlanta used 1.5 billion gallons of water from the lake last week, and the Corp released 10.5 billion that went downstream straight into the gulf of Mexico. Why?? Because if they don't they don't make enough money to keep SEPA in exisitance. Endangered Species??? Without the resevoirs, they had survived for the sevearal thousand years, through much worst droughts. Lot's of politics involved here. For me the impact is a chance to clean the shore, and a chance for some true peace and quiet in the area. The news media has put the fear of god into boaters, so they are gone, although the average lake depth is still over 80 feet, you just have to slow down and pay attention to avoid new islands that are popping up.

This is probably a lot more than you wanted to know. Droughts come, droughts go, but the news media is here to stay and looking to do anything to get you to watch the evening news. And the political grand standing!!! I just turn the news off these days.

That's really interesting...
Of course I've heard plenty about Atlanta being down to a month's supply of H20, but that's the first time I've heard about a Georgia resevoir releasing seven times more water purely for power generation than for drinking water. Turn the lights off when you leave the room, Atlanta! Seriously, how many Kw/hrs are wasted in a single night of illuminating the Georgia Dome so the Falcons can get crushed?

They don't admit it's for power generation. They say it's because of endangered mussles in the river in florida. Since it's endangered, they say they have to keep the river up.

But the State of Georgia, showed that was bogus and sued the Corp. The corp agreed, cut generation by 70%. Ga dropped their lawsuit when the corp did this (the corp was still projecting small releases) and guess what, the corp quadrupled the amount of water released as soon as the suit was dropped.

There is a lot in the news about Ga/Fl/Al fighting lawsuits etc. But it will be decided by the Fish and wildlife service (next week I think) when they determine what is really needed for the mussles. Both agencies, the Corp and Fish/Wildlife have said they can get buy with a lot less water. The corp knows they will soon be under a mandatoy reduction, so last week they let the most water out of the lake since May of 2006.

The reason for the massive release in May of 2006??? The corp said they had a broken gage and didn't know the lake was below spring full pool, even though their offices are directly on the lake and you can look out the window and estimate pretty acurately the lake level based on exposed shore.

The amount of power they generate is insignificant except for the revenue it brings into SEPA. Playing football indoors is crazy anyway regardless of lights/power or how bad the team is (as is the case with the Falcons).

lkbum,
That IS interesting. That's the first I've heard about all that stuff too. Now are these the mussels that are endangered because of foreign zebra mussels? I thought it had more to do with an invasive species than water levels?
We are having lots of rain this w/e. Already the lake is up a couple feet from the last time we were here. Yesterday AM was blustery and sheets of rain were coming down. Then everything calmed and Jenn and I went for a kayak for a couple hours. The lake was smooth as glass and the whole lake and forests smelled fresh. Saw a deer coming down to the water, geese, ducks, great blue herons. Our lake is an old lake. They had lots of timber cutting, dairy farms, a lodge for hollywood types, all have come and gone. At one point they even decided that they were going to turn it into a trophy fishing lake and they thought they could improve this by killing off all the indigent species. So they spread rotenone all over the place. Apparently, from the news articles, salmon, steelhead, trout (cutthroat), sturgeon, bass and an assortement of pan fish all floated to the surface! Of course this didn't work 'cause for one thing the lake is too #$mn big! All the above fish have survived plus small mouth bass and a hybrid bass that somehow ended up in the lake! Mostly now Fish and Wildlife concentrates on water quality and works with the EPA to limit the nitrogenous waste that leaks into the lake. The dairy cows are gone, there are the cottages but the septic system requirements get more stringent all the time. Our biggest asset is that for the most part everyone leaves us alone! I have noted a disturbing trend however in that the lake continues to be more gentrified.