Website detailing dam inspections is out of date
Gilmer County dam inspections are up to date, but the federal database that catalogues them is not.
The National Inventory of Dams, says that many Gilmer dams haven’t been inspected since 2016 or earlier.
However, eight of Gilmer’s 20 dams belonging to the Limestone Valley Soil and Water Conservation District were inspected in 2024, according to Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Project Manager Greg Walker.
All other dams were formally inspected in 2019.
All 20 dams have cold water bypasses, with the exception of Cartecay River Watershed Structure 10 and Talking Rock Creek Watershed Structure 10, Walker said.
These features pull up cold water from the lake beds so local trout can thrive.
Without them, warm water from the surface can spill into Gilmer’s rivers, bringing temperatures up to the point where trout can’t survive.
Trout do poorly in water warmer than 67 degrees.
As of the last informal inspection a few weeks ago, these features appear to be working well in the Ellijay River Watershed dams, Walker said.
“We pay a contractor to go out there and clear any blockages,” Walker said.
Furthermore, although 13 of Gilmer’s dams are said to be in “poor” condition by the National Inventory of Dams, Walker said his inspections show they are in good condition.
“In general, the only issues on the inspections are low priority items such as trash around the primary spillway intake,” he said.
The cold water bypasses in all local dams on the Ellijay River Watershed appear to be functioning as intended when these dams were last checked a few weeks ago, he said.
“All of the cool water intakes appear to be functioning as designed,” Walker said.