It will cost

an extra $174,000 to dredge Lake Peachtree without having to drain the

water level to the bottom, but by doing so the county would avoid losing

the lake's 4.5 million gallon a day water supply.

County water

officials are debating whether the extra cost would be worth it. The dredging

project which involves excavation of approximately 22,000 cubic yards

of silt from five different locations in Lake Peachtree is expected to

start sometime in April.

County officials

must decide whether to go the less expensive route and drain the lake

to remove the silt at a cost of $458,000, or pay $632,000 so a barge can

remove the silt without lowering the lake level significantly.

"I'd hate

to lose 4.5 million gallons of raw water a day," Fayette County Water

System director Tony Parrott told the county's water committee Wednesday

morning.

County consulting

engineer Jim Mallett agreed.

"From

my stance, I'd rather have water to treat if we have another drought,"

Mallett said.

There is plenty

of money to absorb the extra cost because funds have been set aside in

a separate account for the dredging program, Parrott said. He added that

the extra $174,000 will be well spent since it would allow the county

to continue using the 4.5 million gallons a day coming from the reservoir.

Water Committee

chairman Chuck Watkins said he was leaning toward recommending the lower

bid to the county commission, which would involve draining the lake almost

entirely. But county administrator Chris Cofty suggested that Peachtree

City officials should be asked to fund the difference since keeping the

lake levels up would benefit the city, which owns the lake.

The County

Commission will have the final say-so on which bid is selected. Two other

bids were also submitted for the project but they came in substantially

higher than the two under consideration.

The county

is required to dredge the lake periodically under an agreement with the

city which allows Lake Peachtree to be used by the county as a reservoir

for drinking water.

The project

will last up to 150 days, 90 of which are targeted for excavation of the

silt, which must then be dried out before it is hauled off in trucks for

disposal.

Mallett said

if the lake is drained, some water should be left in the lake to perhaps

save the fish who call Lake Peachtree home.

Watkins said

he would rather the county wait until July or later to perform the dredging

project since an April startup "when everybody wants to get outside

and turn their water on."

The committee

was told the bids are technically valid for only 30 days after they were

opened Tuesday.

Watkins admitted

that the last time the county had the lake dredged in 1986, there were

some problems, but he felt $174,000 was "a lot of money."

"We're

not going to be put in that bad of a situation by having this lake out

of service," Watkins said.

Watkins also

said the water system can buy more water from the city of Atlanta to make

up the difference when needed, but Parrott pointed out that it's more

expensive to buy the water than for the water system to treat its own

water.

If the lake

is drained, the county may have to enact more water restrictions to help

conserve water until the project ends, Parrott said.

The committee

discussed the matter at a meeting last week but tabled it so Mallett could

check the references on the contractors who bid on the work.

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