DNR says new culvert caused Lake Bennett to run dry; Fayette strongly disagrees

By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

A Fayette County public works project designed to improve the flow of Sandy Creek under Sandy Creek Road may have had the opposite effect, causing Lake Bennett on Ga. Highway 54 to dry up, according to a state Department of Natural Resources official.

But Fayette County public works director Lee Hearn begs to differ.

A new culvert designed to move more water under the bridge at Sandy Creek Road is three to four inches higher than the old one, said Paul Jones, fisheries technician with DNR.

The new, larger culvert is designed to handle the creek's flow much better than the old one during heavy rains, solving a long-standing flooding problem. But now the problem is just the opposite, according to Jones. There's not enough flow in the creek to reach the pipe, and water that should be running into the lake is backing up behind the bridge, he said.

Not so, said Fayette's Hearn. “We told the DNR when they talked to us about it that we didn't hold the flow up at Sandy Creek at all,” said Hearn. “The new culvert is at basically the same elevation as the old one.”

“At this point it may not help much, but it won't hurt anything either to have it running like it used to,” said Jones.

About 400 acres form a drainage basin that funnels water into the creek at the point where it runs under the bridge, he said. “There's an awful lot of water backed up there,” he added.

Hearn said the new culvert was built using Georgia Department of Transportation funds, and was inspected by the DOT and built according to state standards. He doubts that the state DNR could force the county to modify the bridge without proof. “You'd have to have some pretty strong evidence,” he said.

Hearn also pointed out that Sandy Creek is not the only one feeding Lake Bennett. Whitewater and Tar creeks also drain into the lake, bolstered by hundreds of acres of wetland north of the lake.

It's possible, though, that removing one source of water, Sandy Creek, was enough to dry up the lake even with Whitewater still flowing, Jones insisted. The combination of drought, leaks in the dam that holds back Lake Bennett, and stopping the flow of Sandy Creek may be more than enough, he said.

He was surprised at first that residents or the owners of the dam haven't called sooner to seek the state's help, Jones said, but added that the problem probably seemed to happen overnight from residents' perspective.

It probably has taken a lot longer than residents realize for the lake to empty out, he added. In the early stages, water levels drop slowly because the water is in a flatter, wider area of the lake. After a certain point, when it drops into the narrower, deeper center, the visual effect is dramatic, he said.

“When it gets out of the flats, it goes in a hurry,” he said.

Hearn speculated that the leaks in the dam may have worsened in recent months. “That dam could be leaking a little bit more than it's leaked in the past.” Combined with the reduced flow of water into the lake because of the drought, that could empty the lake, he said.

Or a farmer upstream may be damming one of the creeks to irrigate crops, he suggested.

“Other than that, I'm at a loss,” he said.