Particularly drawn to Flat Creek, Melba Horton spent the early part of the summer checking the water quality at Lake Lanier. The University of North Georgia biology instructor worked with one of her top students, Chad Subers, exploring algal diversity around Flat Creek and Buford Dam as part of UNG’S Faculty-Undergraduate Summer Enrichment program. They found that Flat Creek, a 6-mile waterway that winds through Gainesville and West Hall County before reaching Lanier, was "moderately" polluted and Buford Dam was "clean."