The Hooch
The ‘Hooch begins just a few hundred yards from the Appalachian Trail in Union County, Georgia. Ultimately, it joins the Flint River at Lake Seminole on the boarder between Georgia and Florida. From there, the Chattahoochee becomes the Apalachicola River. Eventually, it flows into the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachicola Bay. The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin drains approximately 19,800 sq miles in the Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain Provinces.
The headwaters of the ‘Hooch is impounded at Buford by the Buford Dam. Lake Sidney Lanier, the lake formed by the impoundment, encompasses about 38,000 acres of water and 692 miles of shoreline. Although originally built to provide hydroelectricity and flood control, the Buford Dam and Lake Lanier provide municipal drinking water to the city of Atlanta. The headwaters of the ‘Hooch is the smallest watershed to provide a major portion of water for any metropolitan area in the country.
The ‘Hooch, one of the southernmost trout habitats in the United States, has a naturally reproducing population of brown trout that is supplemented with rainbows from the Buford Fish Hatchery.
Below the Buford Dam, the ‘Hooch is a classic tailwater. Midges and Blue Wing Olives predominate. As one moves down river, the banks expand and the insect life diversifies. On a warm Atlanta evening, caddis fill the skies over the shoals at Jones Bridge.
The Chattahoochee is a big river. Atlantans may argue this point, however, it is not difficult to find a lone stretch of river to call your own, if only for an hour or so.
The ‘Hooch, in may respects, is no different than our Verdigre. There are people that want to pollute it; Gwinnett County has recently received permission to release treated sewage into Lake Lanier. And, there are people that want to use it up. Florida, Alabama, and Georgia all, by law have rights to the water.
The pace of Atlanta's growth runs ahead of the Hooch's ability to support it just as the demand for irrigation seems to outpace the flow of the Verdigre. They are different, yet they are the same.
The headwaters of the ‘Hooch is impounded at Buford by the Buford Dam. Lake Sidney Lanier, the lake formed by the impoundment, encompasses about 38,000 acres of water and 692 miles of shoreline. Although originally built to provide hydroelectricity and flood control, the Buford Dam and Lake Lanier provide municipal drinking water to the city of Atlanta. The headwaters of the ‘Hooch is the smallest watershed to provide a major portion of water for any metropolitan area in the country.
The ‘Hooch, one of the southernmost trout habitats in the United States, has a naturally reproducing population of brown trout that is supplemented with rainbows from the Buford Fish Hatchery.
Below the Buford Dam, the ‘Hooch is a classic tailwater. Midges and Blue Wing Olives predominate. As one moves down river, the banks expand and the insect life diversifies. On a warm Atlanta evening, caddis fill the skies over the shoals at Jones Bridge.
The Chattahoochee is a big river. Atlantans may argue this point, however, it is not difficult to find a lone stretch of river to call your own, if only for an hour or so.
The ‘Hooch, in may respects, is no different than our Verdigre. There are people that want to pollute it; Gwinnett County has recently received permission to release treated sewage into Lake Lanier. And, there are people that want to use it up. Florida, Alabama, and Georgia all, by law have rights to the water.
The pace of Atlanta's growth runs ahead of the Hooch's ability to support it just as the demand for irrigation seems to outpace the flow of the Verdigre. They are different, yet they are the same.
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