| Difficulty | II(III) |
| Length | 0 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 8 fpm |
| Gauge | Chattahoochee River at Ga 280, Near Atlanta, Ga |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 1110 cfsrunnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | February 19, 2020 |
Maybe at higher flows a wave will form. See photos here.
However, there is access in the new Standing Peachtree Park (the old waterworks plant). It involves a hike, but it beats using S Atlanta Rd as an access point from a safety standpoint.
The Wave is a park-and-play spot in metro Atlanta. Also a slalom training area. Usually slalom gates hung over the rapid.
Located at the Atlanta water works intake.
Immediately upstream of both the Cobb and Fulton county sewage treatment plants. A breeze to the southeast helps keep the smell to a reasonable level.
How Polluted is the River?? It runs adjacent to a Power Plant area, Industrial parks and railyards. The Chattahoochee Trail Park is a nice buffer, Atlanta needs more creek and river buffer space. Bacteria, pathogens and many other neat things are in Peachtree Creek and other urban Atlanta creeks.
We need to foster a community awareness of the beauty and gifts that our local watersheds represent.
How to get there:
From the Atlanta Road exit on I-285 North, the wave is about 4 miles south, toward Atlanta, down Atlanta Road. When you see and smell the sewage treatment plants, you are really close. Continue across the river. Just upstream of the Atlanta Road bridge is where the water works intake is, and the small dam that makes the wave.
As of 2008, the parking area on Atlanta Road was taken out for bridge construction.
What most people did before the road widening is park on the large pull-out on the East or Fulton County side of the bridge where Atlanta Road crosses the river.
There is a Rails to Trails bike path that follows the river on the Fulton County side. Walk down the path beside the Atlanta Road Bridge to the paved bike
...May 20, 2012
Just wanted to let the skeptics (like me) know that this hole is actually quite nice and the water is not bad at all (and I'm squeamish at nasty water). It was running right around 1000 cfs when we were there last week and the hole was perfect. We parked just outside the construction entrance on S. Atlanta and walked down adjacent to the construction boundary and paddled upstream. There is a bum camp in the woods by the bridge so I wouldn't recommend leaving anything valuable in your car. All in all this is a great little spot for us Atlantans to get some play after work...
This is a regular spot of mine and I am very familiar with the water quality (and an Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper member). The water quality at the wave is the same as the rest of the river upstream until you get to Morgan Falls...quite nice for an urban river almost never any serious problems. There are, however, serious issues about a half mile downstream where the treatment plants discharge ... but there is nothing to paddle there.
May 13, 2012
Waterworks/The Wave @ high water