Lawns may look greener after the recent rain, but the drought in the Atlanta area is far from over.
By at least one measure — aside from lawns — things are looking better. The weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows an easing of drought conditions for most of Georgia.
But Katherine Zitsch, director of water strategy at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, said that’s a tool geared towards farming. What she’s concerned about is water supply for metro Atlanta. And that means paying attention to reservoirs like Lake Lanier, which is the biggest source of water for the region. It has more water in it than it did a month ago, but it’s still low. And some other smaller reservoirs are hurting more, she said.
Lake Lanier is currently more than four and a half feet below full pool as we head into the hottest part of the year.
“This is when lake levels typically begin dropping,” Zitsch said. “So we’re really watching those lake levels, water supply reservoir levels. The rain definitely helped, but we have a ways to go before we’re out of the drought from a water supply perspective.”
