-
When 1" of rain has
fallen on an area of 1 acre, 27,154 US gallons of
water have been deposited. Seem like a lot of
water?
1 acre is 43,560
square feet.
1 cubic foot holds 7.480550569 US gallons.
43,560 square feet * (1 / 12) is 3630 cubic
feet.
3,630 cubic feet * 7.480550569 gallons per cubic
foot is 27,154.39856 US gallons
-
When Lake Lanier is at
summer full pool elevation (1070' MSL), it has an
estimated surface area of 38,024 acres. This means
after 1" of rain has fallen, 1,032,518,851 gallons of
water have been deposited! And to help put this in
perspective, 2 million gallons a day are drawn from
the lake for fresh water just for the City of Buford.
While this is less than 0.2%, consider just how many
plants draw from Lanier (I don't know exactly how
many, but it's more than 20), and how infrequently we
have 1" of rainfall, and you start to appreciate the
issues behind water management.
-
Although not officially
open to the public in 1957, it is estimated that some
255,000 people first visited Lake Lanier. Over the
years recreation has grown by leaps and bounds to
nearly 7 million visitors annually.
-
Only 5 counties border
the entire area of Lake Lanier: Hall, Forsyth,
Gwinnett, Dawson, and Lumpkin.
-
The lake was named
after 19th century poet Sidney Clopton Lanier. He was
a Georgia native who was inspired by the beauty of
this area to write the poem, "Song of the
Chattahoochee." Music and nature influenced him as
much as his admiration for Romantic poets such as
Tennyson and Scott. In 1972 he was honored by the
U.S. Postal Service with a commemorative 8-cent stamp
for his contribution to literature. Read the song here.
- The Chattahoochee River flows
through Georgia's Piedmont and Coastal Plain, emptying
into the Gulf of Mexico via Florida's Apalachicola Bay.
|