Georgia’s Water Crisis
What is the “Interstate Problem”? (p. 28, Glennon)
Lake Lanier
Atlanta
Source: U.S. Census website and modified on Wikipedia Creative Commons
Lake Lanier - Georgia
• Man made in the 1950’s
• Area: 150 km2
• Original purposes were
hydroelectricity and flood control
• Drought in 2007 & 2008 due to
accidental release by USACE
• In November 2007 the water
level was dropping at 6 cm/day
Buford Dam
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library (But I pulled these from Wikipedia.org)
How many gallons of water were vanishing each
day from Lake Lanier in November, 2007?
1 US gallon = 3.78541178 × 10-12 kilometers^3
(
)(
)
1 gallon
∆Volume = 150 km 6 x10 km/day
3.79 x10 -12 km 3
∆Volume = 2.4 billion gallons/day
2
−5
How many 100 gallon/day households would this
water supply?
2.4 billion gallons/day
≈ 24 million households
100 gallons/household
How many acre-feet of water are there in
Lake Michigan? Yes, those lovely imperial units.
Lake Michigan Data:
Surface area: 22,400 square miles
Average depth: 279 feet
1 acre = 0.0015625 square miles
1 mile = 5280 feet
Do you know how to get
conversions from Google?
Area in acres
Area
Depth
Depth in feet
(
)

1 acre


Volume =  22,400 mi 2 
(279 feet )
2 
 0.00156 mi  

Volume = 4 billion acre - feet