West Point Lake is a man-made reservoir located mostly in west-central Georgia on the Chattahoochee River and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

[7] The purposes of the reservoir are to provide flood control, hydroelectric power, and water storage to aid the navigation of the lower Chattahoochee.

Authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1962, West Point Lake was built for several purposes and cost an estimated $105 million.

Due to continuing construction, the lake would not be allowed to fill any higher until April 30, 1975, after another power unit was completed.

After building West Point Lake, it was decided to raise the winter pool from 625 to 628 feet (191 to 191 m) aMSL.

During construction, rock was excavated should West Point need to add a navigable lock in the future to the right bank.

When West Point Lake was filled, habitats for deer, dove, quail, and waterfowl were lost which caused important migratory bird routes to be disturbed.

There are a few species of plants and animals that are tracked and knowingly occur in the area of West Point Lake.

[5]: 4  Visitation numbers are unknown today, however many flock to lake during the annual fireworks display at Pyne Road Park that are accessible by boat or land.

The entire area of the Chattahoochee River basin is 8,708 square miles (22,550 km2)[4]: 4-1 The lake is sometimes criticized and brought into negative public light due to being the first impoundment south of Atlanta.

[6]: 14,58 Also in 1991, as pollution damage was realized, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GEPD) and the City of Atlanta made a timetable to reduce phosphorus by the late 1990s.

The daily fines were already at $9,000 per day and had totalled $20 million by 1997 for failing to complete sewer overflow treatment systems.

[16][17][18] On October 10, 1995, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeepers filed a lawsuit against the City of Atlanta for violation of the Clean Water Act by not upgrading facilities to meet standards.

In addressing the issues, a program was created at a cost of $4 billion that removed over 400 million gallons a year of sewer drainage into the rivers.

[19] In another part of the lawsuit, the City of Atlanta was issued a $2.5 million fine and volunteered to remove trash and establish greenways.

However this data is slightly misleading as Georgia does not use PCBs anymore thus contaminated fish are older from previous years.

The lake is tested regularly to the United States Environmental Protection Agency standards, results are posted for public view, and court admissible.

West Point Lake is in the southern end of the temperate zone and close to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico which can bring tropical storms and hurricanes to the area.