Chattahoochee River swells with water as Lanier declines

ATLANTA - The Chattahoochee River is swelling with water as the level of Lake Lanier continues to drop.

That's because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is releasing more water in the river to make up for dry conditions downstream. Water stored in two other federal reservoirs on the Chattahoochee is mostly depleted. That leaves Lake Lanier to provide most of the water needed for protected mussels downstream in Florida.

The corps began sending two big releases downstream every day this week -- in the morning and late afternoon. The releases also generate electricity.

The corps plans to keeping sending the releases at least through Thursday -- when federal biologists are scheduled to report on whether the mussels can survive with less water. If biologists OK the plan, the corps will reduce the water flowing into Florida by 16 percent.

Until then, the corps is obligated to maintain a flow of at least 3.2 billion gallons of water every day into Florida. On Wednesday, Lanier contributed more than two-thirds of that amount.

As of Friday morning, the level of Lanier was 1054.2, which is 16.8 feet below full pool.