![]() George to restore funding to ensure Atlanta's water supply during droughts. During that summer Atlanta mayor William Hartsfield traveled to Washington numerous times pressing southern Democratic Senators Richard Russell Jr. More than $2 million (equivalent to $17 million in 2021) had been spent by the Corps on preliminary construction when the House Committee on Appropriations refused to provide more funds in June 1951. Gainesville's Looper Speedway was also condemned and abandoned. A stretch of Georgia Highway 53 had to be abandoned that ran too close to the planned shoreline. The $1 billion (equivalent to $9 billion in 2021) project was authorized by Congress in 1946, and Buford Dam broke ground on March 1, 1950. The lake's original purposes were to provide hydroelectricity, navigation, and flood control of the Chattahoochee River, and water supply for the city of Atlanta. The current Black population is about 4 percent of the area's population. The Black residents comprised about 10 percent of the population at the time. Oscarville was a small community and the site of a 1912 lynching, which resulted in the forced displacement of all 1,100 Black people from Forsyth County by the White residents. Prior to the groundbreaking of the reservoir in 1950, the town of Oscarville occupied a part of the current location of the lake. The most severe flooding event was in 2009, following a two-year drought the most recent was in 2013. Since the construction of Buford Dam, there have been only three major flooding events on the downstream section. One of the main purposes of the lake is flood control of the Chattahoochee River downstream, mainly protecting metro Atlanta. Before the lake was completely filled, construction crews felled the treetops, leaving tall stumps to remain, in some areas, not far beneath the lake's surface. The land that now sits at the bottom of Lake Lanier was, before the 1950s, forest and farmland. The former thalweg of the Chestatee and the Chattahoochee south of it form the county line between Hall and a corner of Gwinnett to the east, and Dawson and Forsyth counties to the west. The lake is in Hall, Forsyth, Dawson, Gwinnett, and Lumpkin counties, split about 60%, 30%, 5%, 4%, and 1%, respectively, filling the valley into numerous small arms and fingers. During droughts of the 21st century, Lake Lanier reached record lows, and regional actions have been needed to reduce area water usage. The rapid suburbanization of the Atlanta region, in particular, has greatly increased water consumption by private homeowners for lawns and gardens. ![]() In addition, it has to ensure that water is available to fulfill such federal mandates as under the Endangered Species Act, to support downstream species. The Corps of Engineers has responsibilities to regulate flow for flood control and water use. The states of Georgia, Alabama and Florida all have rights to the water of the reservoir, as it feeds rivers going through those areas. It is patrolled by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR), as well as local law enforcement. ![]() Its construction destroyed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of farmland and displaced more than 250 families, 15 businesses, and relocated 20 cemeteries along with their corpses in the process. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and water supplies. Named for poet Sidney Lanier, it was built and is operated by the U.S. The lake encompasses 38,000 acres (150 km 2) or 59 sq mi (150 km 2) of water, and 692 mi (1,114 km) of shoreline at normal level, a "full pool" of 1,071 ft (326 m) above mean sea level and the exact shoreline varies by resolution according to the coastline paradox. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. ![]() Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S.
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