The Georgia Environmental Protection Division says it reached informal agreement Monday with the owners of a dam that spilled silt and mud into Lake Lanier late last month.
Bert Langley, EPD district operations manager, said the private landowner and the city of Cumming have agreed to sign a consent order that will detail cleanup efforts to Lanier and repair work to the dam at Lake Alice, which sits a half-mile to the west.
The dam burst May 19 after storms dumped more than 4 inches of rain on the area. Water and mud seeped through it, following Little Ridge Creek, washing out part of Sanders Road, then flowing into a cove at the southwest side of Lake Lanier.
» RELATED: Dam breach floods Lanier cove with sediment
About 50 homeowners live in the cove and reported the water turned “pumpkin orange.” Sanders Road has been repaired and reopened.
Monday’s meeting included representatives from Cumming and the Mashburn family, who share ownership of Lake Alice, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates Lake Lanier.
“The reason for doing a consent order is it creates an enforceable document that all parties have agreed to,” Langley said.
Consent orders, in general, carry the same weight as a court order and can be enforced by a court if anyone does not comply.
The first order of business, Langley said, is to repair the dam to minimize any further leaks. Long-term plans call for identifying and removing contamination in the lake, “trying to put things back as close to whole as possible,” he said.
Joanna Cloud, executive director of the Lake Lanier Association property owners group, called Monday’s development welcome news.
“We are relieved to see the different entities step up and take responsibility and formulate a plan to resolve this issue,” she said.
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