By CAROLYN CARY

Contributing Writer

• In the early 1970s the decision was made to build a reservoir on Line Creek as an additional water source. The development company in Peachtree City at that time, Bessemer, purchased land in Fayette County that lay along Line Creek, and Fayette County purchased the land opposite it in Coweta County in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
• While initial digging and clearing was already under way, the idea was postponed. Several years later, the Fayette County commissioners purchased the land from the development company and several times began the project again, each time postponing it.
• The project is "on" again and the rules of the U.S. Corps of Engineers now dictate that a number of factors be considered, such as wetland mitigation and any environmental impact the project may have; an archeological survey must be made; and a botanical survey made to consider any impact it may make on wild life.
• "The necessary studies and surveys are either in process now or will be shortly," said Tony Parrott, director of the Fayette County Water System. "We will be entering our '404 Permit' application for the reservoir project within the next couple of months to the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
• "They may take as long as two years to approve it. In the meantime, we will be completing these studies and surveys," he said.
• An archeological survey has been completed and the report indicates 12 grids were laid out, with 11 of the archeological sites recorded as being ineligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places Recommendations and Recommended Treatments. The 12th site has been recorded as being worthy of further testing, due to more artifacts being found there than anywhere else.
• "The wetland mitigation is being studied now and there are approximately 400 acres of land that will be impacted. Consequently, we have to wait to complete that project until the Corps of Engineers notifies us about the amount of acres we must set aside elsewhere," added Parrott.
• The lake will cover 650 acres and will be 30-35 feet at its deepest point. It is expected that the entire project will take five years. By that time, it is estimated that the county's water needs will have reached the point that the completion of the Lake McIntosh Reservoir will have come at just the right moment.

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