Rain slows lowering of Lake Pye to ease flood concerns

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Because Pye Lake isn’t draining as quickly as hoped, Fayetteville officials are planning to use a larger siphon to get the lake level down to protect the public while solutions are sought to the lake’s dam problem.

The city has undertaken the project as a measure to protect the citizens downstream from the lake who are in danger of flooding should the dam fail. The lake hasn’t lowered as quickly as officials hoped due to rain events, said City Engineer Don Easterbrook.

“It drops down and then we get some rain and it goes back up,” Easterbrook said of the lake’s fluctuating level. “The siphon we have on there is not big enough to get it down to where we need it.”

Although the rain has kept the lake level up, it has not held back the city’s analysis of whether the lake can be used by the city for flood control measures, Easterbrook said. If that is a consideration, the city may consider using funds from the stormwater program to repair the dam at a cost of over $100,000.

If not, the dam will likely have to be permanently breached, effectively ending the flooding threat and the existence of the lake.

The Pye Lake dam has been classified as a Category I dam by the state Safe Dams program because of several defects noted in an inspection last year. If the defects caused the dam to be breached, the resulting flood could kill at least one person downstream, Safe Dams officials determined.

The lake’s owner, Harriet Parham, has said she cannot afford to repair the dam.

The lake feeds into Gingercake Creek off Ga. Highway 54 in west Fayetteville and is accessible off Hood Avenue. The area has suffered from flooding problems several times in recent years with periods of intense rain.