What good is water if you can't have fun with it? The U.S. Geological Survey doesn't exactly keep data on how much fun people have at a river or lake, but, as this picture shows, recreation is one of the main uses of water.
What this picture really shows is how one body of water can serve many different purposes. This is a large marina of pleasure boats on Lake Lanier, just north of Atlanta, Ga. The waters of Lake Lanier not only provide drinking water and electricity for hundreds of thousands of people, but are also a water playground for many thousands of people all year round. It even is used to control river flooding that used to occur downstream of this site. The lake is really a reservoir (a lake created by a dam) built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s. It is used by more people each year than any other Corps recreation site. This is a perfect example of how one body of water can have many uses.