The Army Corps of Engineers has decided to reduce the flow of water out of Lake Allatoona by 40 percent to 50 percent, according to the general manager of the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority.
The Cobb County Marietta Water authority pulls about 73 million gallons of water each day out of Lake Allatoona. Before the reduction, the authority was within a month of having to lay a mile worth of piping and pumps to be able to continue pumping water. This change may push that decision day until spring.
"It buys us a little more time for our contingency plans for the steps we need to take as the conditions potentially worsen. We are hoping we don't need to," said Glen Page of the Cobb County Marietta Water Authority.
Page said the decision the Corps made Friday is an effort to make sure Allatoona remains a lake. He said officials are committed to making sure the authority can provide water for customers in 2008.
Officially the lake stands at 21 feet below summer pool --or about four feet below it's normal winter pool. Only two of the normal four boat ramps are open, but now authorities say any rains that come should begin to replenish the lake and not simply pass through the dam and southward.
"Hopefully this means the lake will steady for the time being," said Chris Purvis of the Corps of Engineers.
A spokeswoman for the Corps' office in Mobile, Alabama, confirms the reduction but will not say whether the Corps will do the same for Lake Lanier.
Labels: Allatoona, Lake Lanier, Lakes, Water Ban, Water Flow
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 9:59 AM
