Ocmulgee River User's Guide

Unlike many other Georgia rivers that begin their journeys to the sea along the flanks of ridges in the relatively pristine confines of national forest lands, the Ocmulgee—a name that means “where water boils up” in Muskogee—rises inside Atlanta’s I-285 perimeter highway as the South River in a jungle of asphalt and concrete. In fact, its very headwaters are buried beneath a hazardous waste site. Its other main tributaries—the Yellow and Alcovy—rise in Atlanta’s fast-growing northeast subur...