Workers Attempt Repair on Leaking 106-Acre Lake

By Wayne Crenshaw, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Nov. 4–COCHRAN — An attempt to plug a hole in the bottom a 106-acre public fishing lake began Thursday, and officials say it appeared to be working.

A crew arrived at the Ocmulgee Public Fishing Area on Tuesday to try to pump grout, a type of concrete, into a crevice under the lake bed, but there were concerns about exactly where to pump. After a meeting at the lake Wednesday between the contractor, engineers and Department of Natural Resources officials, another attempt was made Thursday.

“It’s been more complicated than we expected,” said Les Ager, regional supervisor for the Wildlife Resources Division of DNR, as he stood in the lake bed watching the grouting crew at work. “We think we’ve done a good job. I’m confident the leak is going to stop.”

The leak is believed to be coming from a fault in limestone under the lake bed. The problem with the grouting is that the actual crevice could not be seen, but the location of the leak was pinpointed using dye in the water before the lake was drained.

By mid-afternoon Thursday, workers started pumping the grout and it appeared to be going into the fault as planned, Ager said. About 500 cubic feet had been pumped and more was expected to be pumped today. How much would be needed was difficult to determine because size of the fault is unknown.

Once the pumping is done today, Ager said, 5 feet of red clay will be spread over the entire bed of lake in the area of the dam, where the leak was occurring. Even if the grouting doesn’t plug the hole, he said, the clay should stop any further leaks.

Regardless, because of the geology of the area the problem will likely always have to be monitored to make sure no new leaks occur, Ager said.

The lake is located in the Ocmulgee Wildlife Management Area at the Bleckley County and Pulaski County line. It was stocked a year ago and reached capacity in April.

In mid-August, lake workers determined that what first appeared to be an artesian spring bubbling from the ground behind the dam was actually lake water. The lake level dropped about a foot, but the real concern was that the leak could eventually weaken the dam because of the dirt removed by the rushing water. The lake was drained and work on the lake bed began about a week ago. Part of it has already been covered with a blanket of red clay.

The fish are being held in two areas of the lake — about 11 acres total — where water is held by temporary dams. Ager said some smaller forage fish were lost during the draining, and a few larger fish died, but he said there has been no significant harm to the fish population.

Michael Clark, the area manager of the lake, said he was pleased with the way the repair work was going.

“We should be able to open as originally planned in June,” he said. “We are doing all we can to get it done.”

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