The city of Gainesville has agreed to pay $3,750 to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for a sewage spill that happened July 22.

"There were some rags or towels that had clogged up a (sewer) line behind the Wal-Mart in Oakwood," said Kelly Randall, director of Gainesville Public Utilities. "We found it during our regular creek-walking (to check for line breaks)."

Randall said an estimated 50,000 gallons of sewage flowed into Balus Creek, a tributary of Lake Lanier.

The Gainesville sewer system typically has several spills each year and pays fines ranging from about $100 to more than $1,000 for each incident.

Randall said the EPD asked for an unusually high settlement amount for the Balus Creek incident because Gainesville has had six spills this year.