NATCHEZ — A handful of residents of the Robins Lake area who attended Monday’s board of supervisors’ meeting are concerned about what will happen to their lake after 17 feet of water is drained from it.

After surveying damage to the dam on Robins Lake Road the day after an Aug. 18 rainstorm, when water overtopped 80 yards of the dam, the Department of Environmental Quality ordered the Adams County Board of Supervisors to lower the water level of Robins Lake 17 feet below the top of the dam earlier in the month.

Questions about the ownership of the dam and whether the board of supervisors must assume full responsibility due to its sponsorship in an Emergency Watershed Project on the dam two years ago were still not answered at Monday’s board meeting.

Board attorney Bobby Cox and DEQ Dam Safety Director James MacLellan said they have been researching titles to discover who owns the dam, but have not been able to find an answer.

Many of the residents said draining the lake 17 feet was an overreaction to a problem — water overtopping the dam — they are used to seeing.

MacLellan said tests he performed on the dam revealed it to be “high hazard,” and data shows that draining 17 feet will prevent another big rain from flooding and potentially harming the life of the residents of a house near U.S. 61.

County Engineer Jim Marlow said the lake is likely less than 17 feet in some spots. He said draining it will probably result in many mud holes and water holes.

Residents asked MacLellan why the DEQ can order the lake to be drained but fail to take responsibility for the clean-up.

MacLellan said his job is to look out for the safety of dams and protect lives potentially affected by unstable dams.

Robins Lake resident Mike Smith commented that draining the lake will reduce the property values of the houses surrounding it.

District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus said the DEQ was making an unfunded mandate by forcing the county to comply with its instructions without providing funding.

After the lake is drained MacLellan said an engineer should perform a breach analysis, which could cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

Based on the results of the breach analysis, the dam might have to be rebuilt, which could cost millions, Lazarus has said.

The cost will likely be billed to the owner of the lake, after ownership is discovered.

MacLellan said the dam was built in 1973, five years before dam safety department was created in 1978.

MacLellan said the amount of watershed the 20-acre lake receives during big rains is 50 times more than the volume of the lake.

Marlow said the road department was supposed to begin draining the lake Monday morning, but the tubing required, which cost $5,000, has not yet arrived.