What are the responsibilities of the City of Berkeley Lake for maintaining the dam?
The city is responsible for mowing and maintenance activities and prevention of trespassing on the dam. What happened during the September 2009 rain event? From September 15 to September 21, the City received 12.5 inches of rain. Of the 12.5 inches, 6 inches fell on September 21, which put enough water into the lake to raise its elevation by 4 feet. On September 23, while mowing the dam, a City contractor discovered a slope failure about 2/3rd of the way up the dam face. As diagramed, earthen slopes can develop a cut-spherical weakness area. Slips along the weakness area sometimes occur after a period of heavy rain, when the pore water pressure at the slip surface increases, reducing the effective normal stress and thus diminishing the restraining friction along the slip line. This is combined with increased soil weight due to the added groundwater. Is Georgia Safe Dams Program requiring the City of Berkeley Lake to repair the earthen dam? Yes. If the City of Berkeley Lake does not rep
