The City of Cumming has been in the water business since the 1940s. In the early years, the City was permitted to withdraw raw water from both Dobbs Creek and Baldridge Creek. These two raw water sources provided an adequate quantity of surface water to the City for many years. It was not until the late 1970s that the City secured a withdrawal permit from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to pump up to 8 MGD (million gallons per day) of  water from Lake Lanier to the City’s Potable Water Production Facility (PWPF). The Mayor and Council’s decision to move to Lake Lanier was one of the most important decisions made in Forsyth County’s history.

Today, the City is permitted to withdraw up to 37 MGD of lake water for both the City’s PWPF (21 MGD max day)  and the County’s PWPF (16 MGD max day). Without an adequate supply of drinking water and the Mayor and Council’s vision for the future, Forsyth County would not be the great county that it is today.

Currently, the City’s Raw Water Intake Facility (RWIF) is capable of pumping up to 105 MGD out of Lake Lanier. The invert (bottom) of the City’s 72-inch intake pipe is positioned in the bed of the lake at elevation 1020 ft MSL. This elevation makes the City’s RWIF pipe the deepest intake on Lake Lanier and virtually drought-proof.

In the future, the City will expand our Potable Water Production Facility to 36 MGD along with adding membrane treatment equipment to the process.