Chattahoochee River

Map of the Apalachicola River system with the Chattahoochee highlighted.

Chattahoochee River at Norcross, Georgia.

The Chattahoochee River runs from the Chattahoochee Spring in the mountains of northeast Georgia, southwestward past Atlanta and through its suburbs, then turns southward to form the southern half of the Georgia/Alabama state line. Further south itmerges with the Flint River at Lake Seminole near Bainbridge to form the Florida panhandle's short Apalachicola River, and is the largest part of the ACF River Basin watershed. The name Chattahoochee is thought to come from a Creek word for "painted rock", possibly referring to the many colorful granite outcrops along the northeast-to-southwest segment of the river. Much of this segment of the river runs through the Brevard fault zone.

Several lakes, including Lake Lanier, Lake George, West Point Lake, and others are controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, providing hydroelectricity, flood control, drinking water, recreation, and navigation. Several smaller and older lakes and dams also provide these services on a much smaller and more localized scale, including Bull Sluice Lake, which is held by Morgan Falls Dam. This dam was built by the Georgia Railway and Power Company in 1902 to provide electric power to the Atlanta trolley system.

It serves as the border between several counties and cities, including: Alabama v. Georgia

• Habersham and White
• Forsyth and Gwinnett
• Fulton (former Milton part) and Gwinnett
• Milton (former, now northern Fulton) and Fulton (central) boundary, now cities of Roswell and Sandy Springs
• Cobb and Fulton (bordering Atlanta and Sandy Springs)
• Douglas and Fulton
• Carroll and Fulton
• Carroll and Coweta

Unusually, Atlanta is built on a ridge rather than on the river, which has kept much of the natural scenic beauty of much of the section that runs through metro Atlanta. This is so much so that the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, spread across several disconnected units, protects many of the riverbanks north of the city.

The non-profit organization Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is a watchdog group for the northern half of the river.

Controversies

The first major argument over the river was in 1859, when Alabama sued Georgia before the U.S. Supreme Court (which has original jurisdiction in state-versus-state cases). The Alabama v. Georgia case set the state line to be the western bank of the river, rather than the more typical thalweg (centerline).

Controversy has come to the river very recently because of the enormous growth of metro Atlanta, and the tremendous increase in water withdrawals from the river. Oysters in Apalachicola Bay depend on the brackish water mix and alternating freshwater and saltwater flows which the river and tides provide. Interbasin water transfers also occur, where water is withdrawn from the Chattahoochee, but then discharged as treated sewage into another river, such as Hall County's Oconee River. The U.S. Congress has been asked to intervene to put navigation of the lower Chattahoochee (south of Columbus, Georgia) by barges last on the priority list, as most people view this as a complete waste of water during droughts, and a tremendous aggravation to the fight between Georgia, Florida, and Alabama over rights to the river. The case is now in court, and may take years to resolve.

Flooding

The most recent major flood along the river occurred in September 2004, as a result of Hurricane Ivan (which came on the heels of Hurricane Frances).^[1] At Vinings at the northwestern Atlanta city limit, it rose to 22.6 feet or 6.9 meters late on September 16, far above its flood stage of 14.0 feet or 4.3 meters. Numerous tributaries also swelled far over and beyond their banks. These were the highest levels seen since 1990, and the second-highest ever since Buford Dam was built upstream. The National Weather Service in Peachtree City estimated that this was a nearly 100-year flood event.^[2] At Helen, above the dam, the river rose to 6.8 feet or 2.07 meters, just above the flood stage of 6.0 feet or 1.83 meters.

Gauges

Stream gauges are located:

• at Helen (near downtown) HELG1
• near Cornelia (6 miles or 10km northwest of) DCNG1
• near Buford (4 miles or 6km northwest of) immediately down from Buford Dam BUFG1
• near Norcross (5 miles or 8km north of) on Medlock Bridge Road NCRG1
• near Roswell (4 miles or 6km southeast of) just off old Riverside Road RWLG1
• below Morgan Falls Dam TW MGFG1
• at Vinings(3 miles or 5km southwest of) and Atlanta on Pace's Ferry Road bridge VING1
• near Campbellton (1 mile or 1.6km northwest of) and Fairburn on Georgia 92 bridge FBNG1
• at Whitesburg (2 miles or 3km southeast of) at Main Street (Georgia 18) bridge WHTG1
• at Franklin at Main Street (U.S. 27) bridge in downtown FRNG1
• at West Point (1 miles or 1.6km "northeast", actually north, of the center of town) WTPG1
• at Columbus on 4th Street N (U.S. 280) bridge to Phenix City, Alabama CMUG1
• at Walter F. George Dam (USACE) in Fort Gaines FOGG1
• at George W. Andrews Dam (USACE) south of Columbia, Alabama COLA1

Forecasts are regularly issued only at Vinings/Atlanta. Forecasts are issued only during high water at Norcross, Whitesburg, West Point, and the lakes George/Andrews dams. All other locations have observations only.

Tributaries

The upper Chattahoochee River at the Upper Chattahoochee River Campground north of Helen, White County, Georgia

Chattahoochee River at River Park on Willeo Road, Fulton County, Georgia

Tributary creeks, streams, and rivers, as well as lakes, along with the county they are in:

• Soque River (Habersham)
• Helen gauge (HDCG1)
• Big Creek (Hall)
• Lake Lanier and Buford Dam (Dawson, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Hall, and Lumpkin)
  • Chestatee River (Dawson/Hall border, Forsyth/Hall border, and Lumpkin)
• Six Mile Creek (Forsyth)
• James Creek (Forsyth)
• Johns Creek (Forsyth and north Fulton, city of Johns Creek, Georgia)
• Bald Ridge Creek (Forsyth)
• Young Deer Creek (Forsyth)
• Four Mile Creek (Forsyth)
• Dick Creek (Forsyth)
• Level Creek (Gwinnett)
• Haw Creek (Forsyth)
• Two Mile Creek (Forsyth)
• Shoal Creek (Gwinnett and Hall)
• Suwanee Creek (Gwinnett)
• Brushy Creek (Gwinnett)
• Richland Creek (Gwinnett)
• Rogers Creek (Gwinnett)
• Norcross gauge (NCRG1)
• Mavern Creek (north Fulton)
• Old Mill Creek (north Fulton)
• Vickery Creek (north Fulton)
• Roswell gauge (RWLG1)
• Willeo Creek (Cobb/Fulton border)
• Bull Sluice Lake and Morgan Falls Dam
• Ball Mill Creek (DeKalb and Fulton)
• Beech Creek (Fulton)
• Summerbrook Creek (Fulton)
• Mountain Health Creek (Fulton)
• Arrowhead Creek (Cobb)
• Mulberry Creek (Cobb)
• Nancy Creek (DeKalb and Fulton)
• Nannyberry Creek (Cobb)
• Nickajack Creek (Cobb)
• Owl Creek (Cobb)
• Rottenwood Creek (Cobb)
• Sope Creek (Cobb)
• Trout Lily Creek (Cobb)
• Vinings gauge at Pace's Ferry (VING1)
• Peachtree Creek (Fulton)
• Proctor Creek (Fulton)
• Cabin Creek (Fulton)
• Camp Creek (Fulton)
• Charlie's Trapping Creek (Fulton)
• Crooked Creek (Fulton and Gwinnett)
• Dog River (Douglas)
• Hewlett Creek (Fulton)
• Long Island Creek (Fulton)
• Marsh Creek (Fulton)
• Whitewater Creek (Fulton)
• Sandy Creek (Fulton)
• Sweetwater Creek (Cobb, Douglas, and Paulding)
• Pea Creek (south Fulton)
• Pine Creek (south Fulton)
• Deep Creek (south Fulton)
• Mill Branch (south Fulton)
• Brock Branch (south Fulton)
• Browns Lake (south Fulton)
• Anneewakee Creek (Douglas)
• Basket Creek (Douglas)
• Bear Creek (Douglas)
• Bear Creek (south Fulton)
• Tuggle Creek (south Fulton)
• White Oak Creek (south Fulton)
• Turkey Creek (south Fulton)
• Gilberts Branch (Douglas)
• Hurricane Creek (Carroll and Douglas)
• Wolf Creek (Carroll)
• Wahoo Creek (Coweta)
• Whitesburg gauge (WHTG1)
• Mulberry Creek (Harris and Talbot)
• Pataula Creek (Clay, Quitman, Randolph, and Stewart)
• Upatoi Creek (Chattahoochee/Muscogee border and Marion/Talbot border)
• West Point gauge (WTPG1)
• West Point Lake (Chambers, AL, Heard, GA, and Troup, GA)
• Lake Harding (Harris, GA and Lee, AL)
• Goat Rock Lake (Harris, GA and Lee, AL)
• Lake Oliver (Lee, AL, Russell, AL, and Muscogee, GA)
• Columbus gauge (CMUG1)
• Walter F. George Lake (Barbour, Henry, and Russell, AL and Clay, Quitman, and Stewart, GA)
• Lake Seminole (Jackson, FL, Decatur, GA, and Seminole, GA)

Note that the above list is incomplete, and that each item is not in the exact order which it joins the river. (For confluences now inundated by lakes, it may be impossible to determine from current maps exactly where they were.)

See also

• Metropolitan River Protection Act
• List of Alabama rivers
• List of Florida rivers
• List of Georgia rivers

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]

External links

• Five piece series on the Chattahoochee River

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