Watermarks
22 lakes that drained, broke their dams or were filled in, put back on today’s map from 86 years of aerial photos and the county’s lidar.
A lake leaves marks long after the water is gone. The dam usually stays in the ground, sometimes with a notch cut through it. The flat old bed still shows in the lidar, the laser-measured shape of the bare earth. And the aerial photos taken over Atlanta since 1940 remember the shoreline.
Watermarks puts those lakes back on today's map. Where the bed survives, the water is refilled from the lidar up to the old shoreline, with any broken dam patched. Where the lake was filled or built over, the shoreline is traced from the clearest old photo. Every Watermark is checked against a dated aerial photo and lists its caveats.
On the map, Fill it back up pours the water in from the bottom, the year slider scrubs through the photos, and the depth view shows how deep it was. The methods explain the details.
The old lakebed is still in the ground. The water goes back in up to the old shoreline, with any broken dam patched.
28.3 acres · about 10 ft deep
Only the southeast corner still holds water, about 8 acres. The rest of the old lakebed is dry marsh, woods and graded lots for studios and warehouses, several feet above the water.
18.5 acres · about 26 ft deep
The 38-foot earth dam still stands but has a wide gap in its northeast corner. Pines and shrubs cover the old lakebed, and only a pond of about one acre remains against the dam.
14.1 acres · about 19 ft deep
The lake drained between 2001 and 2005 through a notch in the dam. Today the bed is dry brush and young woods, with truck yards nearby.
11.2 acres · about 8 ft deep
Since about 1981 the lake has held only about 5.6 acres near the dam. The old south and east arms are now wetland and woods. In 2026 the lake was drained for dam work.
9.5 acres · about 23 ft deep
The dam still stands with a V-shaped gap cut through it. The old lakebed is a sandy flat with a small stream, grass and brush, inside a city forest preserve beside a landfill.
9.5 acres · about 14 ft deep
The lake emptied between 1968 and 1972. The old bed is now wooded floodplain between a school and a neighborhood road, with a small stream running through a gap at the dam's west end.
9 acres · about 20 ft deep
The dam still stands, but a deep notch in its middle drained the reservoir by 1981. Today a shallow pond of about 2 acres sits behind it, beside a wooded, silted valley and homes.
8.7 acres · about 5 ft deep
Only the southern 4.5 acres still hold open water. The northern half is now a reed marsh with a small stream winding through it.
8.7 acres · about 5 ft deep
The pond is gone. The old bed is a flat, silted meadow and marsh with a small stream winding across it, and only a tiny puddle at the southeast corner.
8.6 acres · about 14 ft deep
The lake was drained between 2001 and 2005 through a cut in the dam. Today the old bed is forest and brush, with a small stream channel, surrounded by townhomes and warehouses.
8.2 acres · about 9 ft deep
The dam still stands. The old lakebed is a meadow and marsh with a stream winding across it, and a shallow pond of about 3.5 acres has returned at the west end since 2025.
7.3 acres · about 13 ft deep
Since 2021 the lake has stayed at about half its size, a brown to green pool of roughly 4 acres in the north, with bare and marshy ground where the old shoreline was.
4.6 acres · about 3 ft deep
Silt has turned most of the old pond into a flat marsh with only a small pond left. Echo Lake itself is still full at its old outline.
0.7 acres · about 6 ft deep
The lake is gone. Since about 2017 the basin has been dry ground with grass, scrub and trees, still ringed by the dam and the apartment grounds.
Filled in or built over, so only the aerial photos remember the shoreline.
27.9 acres
Today the open water ends farther south, at the silted arm's edge, and covers about 22 acres. The lake was drained in 2025 for dam work and dredging, then refilled.
11.8 acres
Houses now line the south shore. The west arm, about 150 meters long, has silted up into a wetland. Open water is roughly 9 acres, and the dam still stands.
7.9 acres
The main lake still holds full water. The creek inlet at the south end has silted into a wooded delta, so open water now stops well short of the old southern tip.
4.8 acres
The old basin is a flat graded area with no trace of the lake. The GA 400 and I-85 ramps cover its east side, and a big-box store lot sits at its north edge.
3 acres
The basin was regraded into a green lawn about 3 to 5 feet lower than the old rim road, with a swimming pool at its south end.
1.7 acres
Zoo Atlanta grounds cover the lakebed, now a flat graded floor with tree canopy, exhibits and paths. The overlook courtyard at the north end was restored in 2024-25.
1.6 acres
Mown cemetery lawn. Only a faint shallow dip and a worn drainage line along the old east shore hint at where the water was.
0.3 acres
The Brookwood Hills community pool and its deck sit where the lake was, in the same hollow, with a flat lawn or court just to the northeast.
Lakes the county’s recent photos caught low or empty, 2022 to 2026. Some were drained for dam work and refilled.
Low in 2023
Glen Emerald Lake was drained to a muddy pool in 2022 and 2023 while its dam was rebuilt with a new concrete spillway and riprap, then refilled by October 2023.
Low in 2026
Joels Lake was drawn down about 15 feet below normal starting in winter 2022-23. By 2026 marsh plants cover much of its bed. The dam is intact.
Low in Oct 2023
Niskey Lake looks the same in every aerial from 1940 to 2013. In October 2023 it was drawn far down, exposing mud flats and a grassy south arm.
Low in 2025
In 1955 part of the lake bed lay bare, with winding channels, just as new subdivision roads were being cut around the shore. The north end has since silted into a delta that shows in dry years.
Low in Oct 2023
In October 2023, federal aerial photos caught North Lake drawn down, with a ring of bare mud and equipment tracks on the dam. No record of this was found.
Low in 2026
Silver Ridge Lake was already built by 1955, about 25 years before the neighborhood's houses appeared. The 2026 aerial shows it drawn down to roughly 35 to 45 percent of its normal area.
Low in 2026
Simpson Lake was full in early 2023 and mostly drained by October 2023. Three years later it is still low, with a pool covering about 40 percent of its old outline.
Low in 2026
Aerial photos show no lake in 1940 and two lakes by 1955. In the 2026 aerial the lower lake is drawn down to small pools, with a structure and rubble at its dam.