Chattahoochee River Totally Explained

Everything about the Chattahoochee River totally explained

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 it merges 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. The Georgia Power Company also has a series of dams along the middle portion of the river between West Point Lake and Lake Walter F. George. 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.
At various points, it serves as the border between several counties and cities, as well as forming a significant part of the border between the states of Alabama and Georgia.
Within Georgia, it divides:

Habersham County and White County
Forsyth County and Gwinnett County
Fulton County (the part that was formerly Milton County) and Gwinnett County
Formerly: Milton County and Fulton County
Cobb County and Fulton County
Douglas County and Fulton County
Carroll County and Fulton County
Carroll County and Coweta County

Unusually, Atlanta is built on a ridge rather than on the river, which has kept much of the natural scenic beauty 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. 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). 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. 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 10 km northwest of) DCNG1

near Buford (4 miles or 6 km northwest of) immediately down from Buford Dam BUFG1

near Norcross (5 miles or 8 km north of) on Medlock Bridge Road NCRG1

near Roswell (4 miles or 6 km southeast of) just off old Riverside Road RWLG1

below Morgan Falls Dam TW MGFG1

at Vinings (3 miles or 5 km southwest of) and Atlanta on Pace's Ferry Road bridge VING1

near Campbellton (1 mile or 2 km northwest of) and Fairburn on Georgia 92 bridge FBNG1

at Whitesburg (2 miles or 3 km 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 2 km "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

Tributary creeks, streams, and rivers, as well as lakes, along with the county they're 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 (Forsyth, 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)

Snake 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 isn't 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.)

Further Information
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