About 12,000 gallons of wastewater spilled into Lake Lanier Wednesday, according to officials with Gainesville’s public utility department.

Just before 5 p.m., behind the High Point Subdivision, a real estate agent noticed wastewater coming out of a manhole in the area.

According to a press release issued by the city, crews were able to stop the overflow and restore normal flow in about two hours.

Kelly Randall, public utility director, said a series of pipes were put in when the lake was built to keep sewage, which previous to the additional pipes flowed into the river, out of the lake.

A portion of those pipes collapsed, causing the sewage to back up during high flow times.

"Apparently (the pipe) was in worse condition than we thought and recently it started to collapse down," said Randall. "When it started doing that, the amount of water that needed to flow through it couldn’t and at high flow times it overflowed over the manhole."

He said there has not been an overflow since 2009.

"We have about 150 miles of sanitary sewers," said Randall. "With that many miles of sewers, things are going to happen from time to time."

Randall said his department is charged with calling the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, placing signs in the area and testing the water quality for one year.

"Frankly, in this situation, because of the volumes involved, I wouldn’t expect that there will be any long-term environmental impact, but we will be taking samples to verify that," said Randall.

Crews were working Thursday to replace the pipe temporarily and will eventually install pipes that are slated for a "50- to 100-year fix."

The public utilities department has also identified thousands of feet of sewer pipes in the area of Dawsonville Highway and McEver Road that need repair.

About 3,000 linear feet of an existing eight-inch sanitary sewer main will need maintenance after crews discovered rust inside the pipe.

The pipe was originally installed without an interior coating and over time it has deteriorated due to chemical reactions from waste.

"During our regular maintenance, they send cameras down in the pipes and they found some rusting inside, so they want to remedy any future problems," Mayor Danny Dunagan said.

Work will take one night and cost about $173,000.

"What could happen is if we didn’t do this, we could have a pipe burst and it could shut down 69 businesses," said Dunagan. "That’s what’s hooked to it."

The approval for the work is scheduled for Tuesday’s city council meeting.