By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Neil Davis hastily rigged a pump on the lower side of the dam next to Olde Mill Steakhouse Friday and began pumping water back to the upper side.

Butch Metcalf, who is building a home in Crystal Lakes subdivision near the restaurant and dam, watched from the restaurant's deck and shook his head. “Maybe that'll at least get some aerated water up there and save some of the fish,” he said.

It was too late. Davis and wife, Kay, spent much of Saturday dragging dozens of dead fish, most weighing five pounds or more, out of what little water remains at the dam.

Residents of Crystal Lakes could do nothing but watch as their boats and docks settled onto the lake's mud bottom as the water dried up.

This week, state Department of Natural Resources officials believe they have solved the mystery of why Lake Bennett, the scenic lake nestled among homes in the Crystal Lakes neighborhood on Ga. Highway 54, suddenly dried up last week. A new culvert that ushers Sandy Creek under Sandy Creek Road and into the lake is higher than the old one, said fisheries technician Paul Jones, holding back the already drought-reduced flow of the creek. But county public works director Lee Hearn disagrees. (see related story)

The lake is important to the city of Fayetteville's drinking water needs. Whitewater Creek, along with Sandy Creek and some smaller tributaries, runs into Lake Bennett and out again as it flows over the scenic dam at Olde Mill restaurant, owned by the Davises. The city draws 700,000 gallons of water a day out of the creek below the dam, but last week shut down its intake and water treatment plant because water levels in the creek dropped too low.

The city will buy water from Fayette County until it can start up the plant again.

The dam was built around 1837, according to the Davises, and consists mainly of stacked rock filled with concrete. After all this time, the dam leaks, but Kay Davis said she can't believe that the leaks in the bottom of the dam could have caused the lake to run dry.

“Water seeps out there, but it always has,” she said. The lake has weathered much worse droughts than this without running dry, she added. “It doesn't seep anymore now than it ever has,” she said.

Fayette County's Lee Hearn said it's possible the leaks have worsened in recent months, accounting for the rapid drop of the lake.

“I never thought it would get that low that quick,” Neil Davis told Metcalf as he worked to set up the pump last Friday.

Davis said he may try to repair the leaks in the dam now that the water level is low enough to allow access to the lower levels.

But, said Mrs. Davis, repairing the dam won't help if water doesn't start coming into the lake. DNR's Jones said the only thing that's going to restore water levels in the lake is rain.

Meanwhile, it will be a long time before Lake Bennett has any large fish in it, and fish below the dam also are showing signs of distress as the creek level drops.

“We're just sick about it,” said Mrs. Davis.