Gwinnett County filed a notice of appeal on a federal ruling earlier this year that would no longer allow most of metro-Atlanta use Lake Lanier for its drinking water, despite the fact that it is its primary potable water reservoir and has been for decades.
That this is even an issue, despite the fact that the drainage basin of Lake Lanier is minuscule in comparison to the the total drainage basin at either the Alabama or Florida border, is stupefying.
As an side, Lake Lanier is getting closer and closer to full pool. Earlier this year, a state climatologist predicted that Lanier would reach full pool after a dry late summer and fall and wet winter due to the effects of El Nino. Obviously that prediction didn’t include the previous week’s rains which has moved the lake to within 3 feet of full pool this morning.
The rains dropped 5.51″ as recorded at my house on Monday, which is the equivalent of a 10-year storm event. However, with a total of 5.28″ of rain occurring over the previous six consecutive days, the event manifested itself as more like a 100-year event (7.7″ of rain in 24 hours) because of the saturated ground being unable to absorb much of the rain. The rain we got Monday is the most I’ve ever recorded at the house, which includes the 2005 tropical storm season and remnants of Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, which both dropped less than 5″ of rain. Because of the nature of the week long rain events culminated by a 10-year storm, chances are that was a once-in-a-lifetime weather event. While we’ll certainly see flooding again at some point, the incredibly unique situation that occurred last week will likely not be repeated again anytime soon.
