OAKWOOD, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
The rains from earlier this week were a blessing and a curse for residents who live near Flat Creek.
The debris from the garbage that accumulates along this section of the lake near Flat Creek which empties into Lake Lanier, includes everything from cans and plastic bottles, to television sets and furniture.
"You name the garbage, it's in here," resident Jerry Guhl said.
Guhl took CBS Atlanta's Mike Paluska out on his boat to get a firsthand look from the water on just how bad the problem is.
"It is gross and nasty and frustrating, even if we did our part and cleaned up our area around our shoreline and our lake it is always going to be there," Guhl said. "We like to canoe and kayak and enjoy the nature aspect of it and it is very difficult when you are trying to paddle through all of this stuff."
Guhl said the debris floats through the creek towards the lake like a giant living island of garbage.
"Once it hits the open water it spreads out and doesn't look as bad, but it is still in the lake and it shouldn't be," Guhl said.
People who have million dollar views of the lake are now trading that view for a garbage dump.
While we were on the lake we saw two homeowners with poles pulling bags, upon bags of debris out of the water and it wasn't even making a dent.
"There are a lot of other things I could be doing right now, instead I'm picking up trash," Marguerite Jones said.
Unfortunately, for longtime residents like Jones this is not a new problem, it's just one that won't go away.
"I have been here for 13 years, and pay astronomical property taxes to live on this lake, we have to deal with this," Jones said.
Residents believe the trash comes from storm drains that accumulate litter from people in the area who throw their trash on the ground, once the drains are washed out during storms the litter ends up taking over the lake.
"Something needs to be installed, to prevent this stuff from ever reaching the lake," Guhl said. "We want people to know this is people's drinking water coming out of this lake, and people swim in this lake and it needs to stop."
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