A city in north Georgia has begun an emergency project to dig into Lake Lanier to ensure the city doesn’t go dry.
Cumming is spending a million dollars from its emergency contingency fund to burrow into Lanier's floor. The process begins next week, and will involve a barge digging to a level of 1,030 feet above sea level. That would allow new piping to draw water from 10-feet deeper than the lake's current bottom.
Jonathon Heard is Cumming’s director of utilities. He says this project is a temporary fix for the city if the drought continues.
"The dredging project will provide a reliable source of water for the city until the lake reaches the level 1035’, and the (Army)Corps(of Engineers)has predicted the lake will go down to 1035’ either by the end of the year or beginning of next year".
At that point, the city would utilize another barge to go out into the shrinking basin and pump water back to its piping infrastructure.
Lanier hit a 50-year historic low earlier this week.
Cumming is spending a million dollars from its emergency contingency fund to burrow into Lanier's floor. The process begins next week, and will involve a barge digging to a level of 1,030 feet above sea level. That would allow new piping to draw water from 10-feet deeper than the lake's current bottom.
Jonathon Heard is Cumming’s director of utilities. He says this project is a temporary fix for the city if the drought continues.
"The dredging project will provide a reliable source of water for the city until the lake reaches the level 1035’, and the (Army)Corps(of Engineers)has predicted the lake will go down to 1035’ either by the end of the year or beginning of next year".
At that point, the city would utilize another barge to go out into the shrinking basin and pump water back to its piping infrastructure.
Lanier hit a 50-year historic low earlier this week.
