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Georgia / Waters /

Lake Lanier

Reservoir in Georgia, near Balus Creek, Buford, Cameron Point, Cumming, Dawsonville, Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Gay Lan, Lake Forest, Loch Arbor, Looper Lake and Lula

Current status

No current status shown

No current status is assigned to this water outline. Check the water page for reports and any estimated downstream stretches. Why this status, and its source

Map sources: water outlines and launches from OpenBoatLaunch and OpenStreetMap contributors (Open Database License); wastewater outlets from EPA and state records; downstream estimates by DirtyWaterWatch using U.S. Geological Survey maps and flow data. Base map: OpenFreeMap and OpenMapTiles.

Square boat markers mark boat launches listed by OpenBoatLaunch.

Check BUFORD, CITY OF (BUFORD WTP)'s notices · Bookmark this water page and check it before each trip · Report a missing notice or error

About this status

No current status shown: no report we track sets a status on this water now; how statuses work. No status does not mean the water is safe. Follow posted signs and local health advice.

Sources checked: a public source (last successful check 2026-11-05 01:05 UTC); a public source (last successful check 2026-11-05 01:05 UTC); Georgia EPD Municipal Sewage Spills Reported to EPD (last successful check 2026-11-05 01:06 UTC). Status by DirtyWaterWatch, updated 2026-11-05 01:25 UTC. · Updated

The last 90 days

Last 90 days, hour by hour. Red: discharge or advisory reported. Amber: caution. Hatched amber: end not confirmed. Plum: algal bloom advisory. Red or amber with a light line inside: beach advisory or caution. Dotted: monthly report (days with discharge, dates not given). Grey: no current status on the water outline. Purple hatching: source update overdue.
  • Caution: to
    1 report: GAINESVILLE, CITY OF 1
    Show records

    The records are also in the report table on this page.

  • Discharge or advisory reported: to
    1 report: GAINESVILLE, CITY OF 1
    Show records

    The records are also in the report table on this page.

Source: DirtyWaterWatch calculations using the reports named above and the published status rules. Updated 2026-11-05 01:25 UTC.

Reported discharges over time

  • Discharges affecting Lake Lanier in Georgia, last 12 months44 affecting this water: 4 reported on Lake Lanier; none arriving from upstreamDecember 2025 to November 2026Verified reports where available, else notices; revisions and duplicates counted once. Arriving discharges are estimated from modeled downstream reaches.
  • Days with a discharge affecting Lake Lanier in Georgia, last 12 months4Reported on Lake Lanier in Georgia: 4 · Arriving from outfalls upstream, estimated: 0 (counted apart; together they need not equal the total)December 2025 to November 2026A day counts once however many discharges were under way on it.
  • Hours with a discharge or advisory status on Lake Lanier in Georgia, last 12 months96Reported on Lake Lanier in Georgia: 96 · Arriving from outfalls upstream, estimated: 0December 2025 to November 2026Red hours by the map's rules: each discharge to its reported end plus the state's post-discharge period; overlapping hours count once.
  • 2026 season with a discharge or advisory status on Lake Lanier in Georgia1.1%May to October 2026Share of May 1 to October 31 hours with red status by the map's rules, of the hours a source covered.
  • Records behind the last-90-days strip for Lake Lanier in Georgia1Reported on Lake Lanier in Georgia: 1 · Arriving from outfalls upstream, estimated: 0last 90 daysEvery distinct record the strip lists for its red, yellow and unresolved hours, notices and unresolved reports included; counted as the strip counts them.

Combined sewer overflow (CSO): sewage mixed with rainwater spills from a shared sewer system. Sanitary sewer overflow (SSO): sewage spills from a sewer meant to carry sewage separately from rainwater. Treatment bypass: wastewater skips one or more treatment steps. Blended discharge: wastewater that skipped some treatment is mixed with treated wastewater. Outfall: a pipe or outlet where wastewater enters a water body.

Reported discharges per month

4 reported discharges, January 2022 to November 2026.

  • Combined sewer overflow
  • Sanitary sewer overflow
  • Treatment bypass, blended or other
  • No tracked source for this period
  • Incomplete source coverage
Limited records

No tracked source covers January 2022 to April 2022.

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Hours with a discharge or advisory status per month

Hours when this water had a discharge or advisory status under DirtyWaterWatch rules.

  • Discharge or advisory reported
  • No tracked source for this period
  • Incomplete source coverage
Limited records

No tracked source covers January 2022 to April 2022.

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Days with a reported discharge per month

A day counts when any counted discharge was under way on it, from its start to its reported end in Eastern Time; a report with no end counts its start day.

  • No tracked source for this period
  • Incomplete source coverage
Limited records

No tracked source covers January 2022 to April 2022.

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Reported volume per year

Gallons (axis: K thousand, M million), summed from the 4 reports that gave a volume as a number.

  • Incomplete source coverage
Limited records

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Hours with a discharge or advisory status per year

Hours with a discharge or advisory status each year under DirtyWaterWatch rules; 2026 to date.

  • Discharge or advisory reported
  • Incomplete source coverage
Limited records

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Share of the May to October season with a discharge or advisory status

Share of the hours from May 1 to October 31 with a discharge or advisory status under DirtyWaterWatch rules.

  • Discharge or advisory reported
  • Season with incomplete source coverage

Seasons with incomplete source coverage: 2025. The share is of the hours a source covered.

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Reported discharges by calendar month, all years

Every counted discharge report, by the calendar month it began.

Months are summed over every year a tracked source covers; the table gives the number of years behind each month.

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table

Reported discharges by wastewater outlet

Wastewater outlets with the most tracked discharge records: 4 of 4, all years. Counts depend on reporting coverage and do not measure legal compliance or harm.

Source: ga-epd-spills. Records cover September 9, 2025 to November 4, 2026.

Show table
How these charts are counted

We count each discharge once. Where a source publishes notices and confirmed reports, we use confirmed reports for an operator's month when available; otherwise we use notices. We combine revisions and exclude duplicate state reports copied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Monthly and yearly totals appear separately. Status hours follow this site's rules. Shaded gaps mean missing coverage, not zero discharges.

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sewer overflow records: records from May 3, 2022 to the latest update (limited records)
  • ga-epd-spills: records from September 9, 2025 to the latest update

Reports linked to Lake Lanier

Reports linked to Lake Lanier, newest first
WhenReportStatus
to 9:15 AMGAINESVILLE, CITY OF · SSO (earlier version) · volume not reported report · notice · mapended
to Aug 25Gainesville, City of · 1290 McEver Road Gainesville, Georgia 30504 · SSO · 500 gallons report · notice · mapended
to 2:45 PMGAINESVILLE, CITY OF · SSO (earlier version) · volume not reported report · notice · mapended
to 11:00 AMGAINESVILLE, CITY OF · SSO (earlier version) · volume not reported report · notice · mapended
to Jul 24Gainesville, City of · Autum Lake Drive Gainesville, Georgia 30504 · SSO · 1,200 gallons report · notice · mapended
to Jan 20Cumming, City of · 2120 Lake Forest Landing Cumming, Georgia 30041 · SSO · 1,500 gallons report · notice · mapended
to Jan 2Cumming, City of · 1257 Westshore Drive Cumming, Georgia 30040 · SSO · 4,500 gallons report · notice · mapended

Sources: EPA ECHO Sewer Overflow and Bypass Event report (reported to regulators), retrieved 2026-11-05 01:05 UTC; Georgia EPD Municipal Sewage Spills Reported to EPD, retrieved 2026-11-04 08:30 UTC. A report's record id and times show when you hover or focus its "report" link.

Download these reports as CSV

All reports in Georgia by year: 2026 (7 here)

Wastewater outlets on this water

No wastewater outlet in our records is linked to this water.

Sewer operators listed for this water: BUFORD, CITY OF (BUFORD WTP), CUMMING, CITY OF (LANIER BEACH SOUTH WWTP), FLOWERY BRANCH (CITY OF) CINNAMON COVE WPCP, FLOWERY BRANCH, CITY OF (FLOWERY BRANCH WPCP), GAINESVILLE, CITY OF (LINWOOD WPCP), Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources (F. Wayne Hill WRF), LUMPKIN COUNTY WATER AND SEWERAGE AUTHORITY (CANE BRANCH WPCP), GAINESVILLE, CITY OF (FLAT CREEK WRF), CUMMING, CITY OF (BETHELVIEW ROAD WPCP).

Boat launches

Source: OpenBoatLaunch launch records (public agency data and OpenStreetMap, Open Database License). · Lake Lanier on OpenBoatLaunch

Nearby waters

Sources covering this water

4 records linked to this water, besides 3 earlier versions or duplicates. Updated .