Watchdogs say Cumming bulldozed stream, harmed Lake Lanier

The city of Cumming bulldozed through a stream near Lake Lanier while searching for the best spot to build an aquatic center, in apparent violation of state and federal Clean Water laws.

Two inspectors from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division found evidence of the small, unnamed stream at the site on Pilgrim Mill Road near Ga. 400 earlier this month. The stream appeared to be cutting a new channel through the denuded dirt, according to an internal memo.

EPD has sent a draft enforcement order to Cumming, according to city attorney Dana Miles with Miles & Tallant. Orders, which often include fines, are confidential until signed by the EPD director.

The nonprofit environmental organization Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper first alerted the state to the construction site. If the state fails to pursue enforcement that Riverkeeper believes is adequate, it could file a civil suit against the city.

In a letter to the city earlier this month, UCR’s attorney, Andrew Thompson of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, outlined numerous violations of state and federal statutes that he said carry a fine of up to $32,500 per day for each violation.

UCR Executive Director Sally Bethea said construction activity sent mud and silt into Lake Lanier, metro Atlanta’s primary water source.

“The fact that it’s a local government that’s causing it is even more disturbing because they are administering and enforcing Clean Water laws,” Bethea said.

Miles, Cumming’s attorney, said the city would formally respond to the charges. He declined comment until then, citing the potential litigation.

Before the state inspection and UCR’s notice of intent to sue, Cumming’s Assistant Administrator Steve Bennett, in a letter to EPD, denied there was a stream on the clear-cut property. He also said runoff had been controlled on the 17-acre site to prevent mud from sliding into Sawnee Creek and Lanier.

Two days later, in a letter to the city, the city’s engineer, David Anderson of McWhorter & Anderson, explained that the consultant hired to locate any streams on the property had found “state waters on or near the site,” but did not know the exact location of the boundary.

By the time the consultant returned, the site had already been cleared.