Rob Holland with the U.S. Corps of Engineers tells WSB's Jennifer Griffies, although it would've been nice to have more, they'll take it.

"It's not likely that the water at Lake Lanier will rise because most of the rain fell south of Atlanta; but there is a good chance that the flows out of Lanier will be reduced because of the rain that we did get down south," said Holland.

So, how do you determine how much to slow the flow of releases?

"We have a team of water managers in our Mobile, Alabama, office who monitor conditions in the basin constantly and they are fed data from stream gauges throughout the basin. The data comes into them wirelessly and gives them a kind of real-time picture of conditions. If they notice that flows have increased in a certain part of the basin, and those flows can contribute to the minimum flows that are required, then they're able to cut back on releases from reservoirs like Lake Lanier," said Holland.

Holland says the cutback of releases can last for sometime.

"Last time we had a major rainfall was mid-October, and we were able to cut back releases from Lanier for at least a week. It (the latest rainfall) should have a long-term effects. It all depends on how much fell and where it fell," said Holland.

November 26, 2007