As mentioned in FOBC’s last article on Lakes Disharoon & Petit, more documents are continually being provided by Georgia Safe Dams as a result of this newspaper’s Open Records Requests. Documents continue to contradict what the community and regional residents are being told regarding the safety and stability issues of these two (2) dams. While an update article highlighting the increasing severity of the threat looming at Lake Petit is still being prepared, one recently received internal email document regarding Lake Disharoon really stood out, and is now being released publicly. It contains information not previously shared with Big Canoe Property Owners by management.
The Email w/Phone Log is linked here as a PDF. Following are excerpts not previously shared by Management with Property Owners. This is significant, and is a separate issue from the “disintegrated” pipe that was reported by Big Canoe GM Scott Auer.
“A slough has developed on the upstream slope of the Disharoon lake dam, near the toe. This is a significant stability issue for any dam.”
A slough occurs when the face of the Dam starts to slide off. This most likely occurred in addition to erosion coming through the “disintegrated” pipe, as a result of another quote in the Phone Log on Pg 2 of the document:
“Reportedly the lake was dropped fairly rapidly….. On March 31 someone noticed a slough on the upstream slope of the dam (this can happen when lake levels are fluctuated a lot is relatively short periods of time).”
So this reinforces the questions asked of Big Canoe Management in the last article:
Who was in charge of the draining of Lake Disharoon? Was a slow, steady and patient process that was originally estimated to take weeks, rushed in an attempt to meet Summer Swimclub opening dates, and as a consequence made a bad situation worse, allowing uncontrolled waterflow through the lower drain pipe to “blowout” some sidewall sections?
And brings up another question:
Why wasn’t this separate issue of Sloughing (Slides) reported to the community? Why do Property owners have to continually beg like dogs at the feet of the General Manager to get basic factual and complete information regarding the status of this Dam, and of Lake Petit (Property Owners AND Safe Dams Officials are still being denied the Dive and Camera Reports that Property owners paid for).
Speaking of Lake Petit, even GA Safe Dams Personnel appear to be getting frustrated, as is seen in this excerpt from an April 30 2021 internal email that will be released in our upcoming article:
“We need to request the camera inspections of the low-level (?) pipe done in November and December 2020.”
Big Canoe Management, Board of Directors, and our Engineer Geosyntec are playing an increasingly dangerous game of “hide the facts”, but the situation at both Dams is beginning to spiral out of their control. The time and cost to fix Disharoon is increasing exponentially. The Risks (and consequences and costs to the community) at Lake Petit Dam are also rising exponentially.
Management has not been proactive; not been truthful. If the community is lucky, then we will soon have 2 drained Lakes, and astronomical price tags to rebuild/repair. If we are unlucky, then management will succeed in their ongoing efforts of deception, and the situation at Lake Petit will progressively develop into a catastrophic Dam Failure that destroys not only this community (Deaths, Property Destruction, Infrastructure, Roads, Bridges and Water facilities wiped away, along with unbelievable Lawsuits), but also a large portion of regional infrastructure in the surrounding area of Marble Hill / E. Pickens County. Either way, this situation has now developed to the point that there is no easy or inexpensive way out of this mess, which is the result of decades of failure to properly maintain both Dams.
As this Newspaper continues to put out the documented facts, property owners are more and more responsible for exercising their control over the situation, and less able to claim ignorance. Management and the Big Canoe Board have lost any credibility. Property Owners need to demand transparent access to the 2020 Dive and Camera Reports. They need to demand that these documents be immediately turned over to Ga Safe Dams Personnel as well. Let us remember that the 2020 Camera Inspections of Lake Disharoon claimed to have revealed no problems in that pipe either – until it “disintegrated” (GM Scott Auer’s words, not mine) recently. Property Owners, and even more importantly Ga Safe Dams, need to be able to see and interpret those reports independently. Again, Big Canoe POA Management, Board, and even our Engineers (who are probably under incredible manipulation pressure from Management) have a really bad track record so far, and this is becoming too serious to rely solely on their judgement. WAKE UP PEOPLE! DEMAND SOME ANSWERS AND DOCUMENT ACCESS!
Peace,
– david / publisher
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* a publication of The Mountains Voice
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