DAHLONEGA - Sixteen weeks from now, Dahlonega and Lumpkin County hope to have no more worries about drought.
Yahoola Creek Reservoir began to fill Friday morning.
With the call of "Close that gate!" from the spectators, the gate on the Ted Taft Copeland Dam began to move down, allowing creek water to start flooding 150 acres of a project started in the mid-1990s.
Lumpkin County Commissioner Steve Gooch said the reservoir will provide a reliable and plentiful supply of water plus a public recreation lake to be enjoyed by all.
The total project cost is estimated $14 million.
The project was completed last year but Dahlonega and Lumpkin County had to wait until last week for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permission to close the gate.
Former State Senator Guy Middleton was credited with getting the project started as the Water Authority's first chairman.
"There's just a real void in infrastructure to meet the needs the needs of the people and this is the first step to really to that in the future," Middleton said.
Middleton added the Yahoola Reservoir will be vital in meeting area development needs, with people coming from Atlanta, Florida and Georgia Highway 400.
State Representative Amos Amerson of Dahlonega worked on getting state funding for the project.
"One of the things that made this viable
is that Dawson County has a state park, White County has a state park, and Lumpkin County does not have a state park, but this will become a state park," Amerson said.
Amerson said as far as he knew the park is the only one in the state inside a city and with a reservoir and recreation lake.
Commissioner Gooch said Lumpkin County is now drought proof.
Gooch recalled it took twenty years of state and federal negotiations which included lining up the funding that paid for it all.
Gooch said land near the lake was already climbing in value.
A one acre tract across the street priced at twenty thousand dollars is now selling for eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Sunday
June 1st, 2025
3:23AM
