Robin Dake/Special to the Independent-Mail

Water levels in Hartwell Lake in the Broken Bridges area off Ga. 143 near the Georgia/South Carolina line in Stephens County, Ga.

STEPHENS COUNTY — Money for Stephens County’s share of a study of economic impacts of low lake levels could come from private sources.

At its monthly meeting Thursday, the Stephens County Development Authority asked its marketing committee to try to raise $7,800 to help pay for a study proposed by the Lake Hartwell Coalition that will examine how the low water levels at Hartwell Lake affect communities economically.

The study is important to be able to move forward with the development authority’s work, said Tim Martin, executive director of the authority.

“There are development, residential and recreational interests that impact our ability to move forward, so our marketing committee has been asked to find a way to help support that study,” Martin said.

Marketing committee members expressed confidence that the proposed amount could be raised from private, community sources. During the meeting, Tim Ash, vice president of Stephens Federal Bank, pledged the bank’s support.

The Lake Hartwell Coalition had requested the funding from Stephens County, first in March, then again in July. Commissioners told the group the money was not allocated in the county budget.

According to a coalition spokesman Tom Coley, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is contributing $100,000 to the study, which is estimated to cost $200,000. The other $100,000 will come from the counties surrounding Hartwell Lake in amounts based on the amount of shoreline each county has on the lake. The five counties other than Stephens — Franklin and Hart in Georgia as well as Oconee, Pickens, and Anderson in South Carolina — all have signed on to the study.