A leak in a drain at the Hickory Log Creek Reservoir still remains, even though the Canton City Council approved expending money for a repair three months ago. Officials say, however, that the leak does not pose a threat to the reservoir’s integrity.
In November, Reservoir Manager Cole Blackwell told the city council that Panel Drain No. 9 was leaking 700 gallons of water per minute due to a ruptured seal.
Blackwell said Jan. 27 that the leak now is at 1,200 to 1,500 gallons per minute.
Typically, the panel drains at the reservoir are supposed to allow 10 to 20 gallons of water through per minute.
The leak was discovered last fall and may have happened because Thalle Construction incorrectly put a patch on with PVC glue instead of welding it.
Even though the amount of water leaking has increased, Blackwell said there is no concern about safety regarding the dam.
“This pipe is meant to carry water. There’s not a bust in the dam or anything of that nature. It’s a simple breach,” Blackwell said. “It’s a plastic liner on the face of the dam. If the entire liner were removed off the face of the dam, that would not create any safety concern for the dam. It’s just a way for us to lose less water from the lake to keep from pumping as much water from the river to keep the reservoir at full pool.”
The city council approved, in November, a $54,904 expenditure to fix the leak.
Blackwell said the engineers still are debating how to fix the leak, but the city and the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, the city’s partner in the reservoir, have been working with ASI Constructors, one of the original subcontractors that helped build the dam.
“They are still debating on what to do. Any fix to the drain is going to be approved by Schnabel Engineering. They are the design engineer for the dam,” Blackwell said. “Once they approve of the fix, the Georgia Safe Dams Program also has to be in agreement with the method used to fix the drain. Initially, the thought from Schnabel was to utilize a chemical grout and grout from the inside of the dam to fix the leak, but that particular idea has been tossed about several different times between Schnabel and engineers with Cobb-Marietta and contractors.”
Blackwell said they are looking to do a “mock-up” of how the grouting will be done in the next few weeks.
“I had hoped that this would have been taken care of in very short order last fall, but it’s ended up being a little more complicated than what was initially expected,” Blackwell said. “But when we do the fix, we want to make sure we do it right and we won’t have to do it again. Because there is no safety concern with the performance of the dam, we are taking our time in doing our due diligence before the fix is implemented.”
Blackwell said the city could use the funds already approved for the fix when they decide exactly how the leak, which is 131 feet under water, is to be repaired.
Also at the November meeting, Councilwoman Pat Tanner had asked that then-City Attorney Billy Hasty look into who should be responsible for paying for the repairs—the city and the water authority, the contractor, Thalle Construction, or Schnabel Engineering, who was overseeing the project.
“Whoever is responsible needs to be the party that pays for this particular change order,” Tanner said Jan. 29. “Mr. Blackwell has indicated that Thalle feels they are not responsible for this particular process. My frustration is that, every time you turn around, we’re having change orders or something was failed to be done or done correctly. There were people in charge of the project or in charge of people responsible for doing the work. Now we’re ending up having to correct things that were not completed or done correctly,” Tanner said. “Hopefully, in the long run, we can get reimbursed for some of our expenses. I hope we’re at a point now that we’re getting ready to close our pocketbook.”
Blackwell said the city sent a letter to Thalle Construction saying the city thought the leak was caused by a “latent defect” and should be paid for by Thalle. Blackwell said Thalle sent a letter to the city, saying they don’t believe they should be responsible for paying for the leak repair.
City Manager Scott Wood said there have been talks about legal action but that currently is not the focus.
“There have been some discussions,” Wood said. “Our priority is getting the leak fixed, then letting the legal authorities sort out whose responsibility is what. But we’re placing a priority on having the leak repaired. I’m not ready to abandon the position that Thalle is ultimately responsible for the repairs, but the attorneys will have to hash that out.”
