CENTRE — A comprehensive report written almost 15 years ago systematically analyzed the many problems facing Weiss Lake, then offered dozens of recommendations for improving conditions in and around the 30,000-acre reservoir.

To date, however, most of those ideas have yet to be adopted by current local and state officials — even though their predecessors requested to study to begin with.

The 66-page document was compiled by the Anniston-based East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission at the request of the Cherokee County Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

The report contained, among many other items, a condensed history of the lake, detailed explanations of challenges facing the reservoir, and the results of an economic impact study conducted in 1995 by the Florida State University Department of Economics.

The report also included a 16-page conclusion titled “Issues and Recommendations” which laid out several ways to improve conditions in and around Weiss Lake, including expansion of residential sewer service, the creation and enforcement of countywide building codes, and coordinated volunteer efforts to monitor water conditions in the lake.

The report predicted that residential growth around Weiss Lake could be expected to continue for the foreseeable future, and that a failure to address the by-products of that expansion could lead to undesired consequences.

“The greatest potential threats to the lake from residential development are due to concentrations of private septic systems on marginal soils and intensive use of recreation lots in the 100-year flood plain,” the report read. “The demand for intensive recreational uses … creates a substantial incentive for misuse of recreation lots.”

Partly as a result of the report, the County Commission requested that Rep. Richard Lindsey, D-Centre, seek passage of a local bill that would address the potential for improperly treated sewage from campsites and recreation lots to enter Weiss Lake. Lindsey successfully steered a local bill through the Alabama Legislature in 2001, but the law has never been enforced.

The current County Commission, led by Probate Judge Melvyn Salter, is now working with the state Health Department and Alabama Power — which built the lake in 1961 — to begin a combined effort to enforce the law, which would require waterfront property owners to connect to an available sewer system or face the prospect of stiff fines.

Salter recently told The Post he hopes to have a comprehensive sewage disposal ordinance completed and ready for approval by the County Commission sometime in the next several weeks.

A continued lack of countywide building codes means anyone living on property adjoining Weiss Lake in unincorporated areas of Cherokee County – which includes an estimated 95 percent of the reservoir's 447 miles of shoreline – is free to construct practically any type of structure on their property, including unapproved sewage disposal systems.

Recently, Salter and the Commission have stepped up efforts to bring the county into compliance with a long-ignored FEMA ordinance passed in 1991. Salter and county highway engineer Corey Chambers have said they believe a new computer system in place since last July will aid the county in its efforts to comply with federal regulations. Salter has said he believes the county will eventually have to relieve Chambers of the burden of administrating the flood ordinance by hiring someone full-time.

“Guntersville has a compliance officer who deals with all these things, kind of like a building inspector,” Salter told The Post last summer. “And we badly need someone in that area here. If we could combine those responsibilities and find someone willing to go out and do the job, it would be a huge benefit. Right now, not to have this service is a nuisance to the county.”

The report estimated that in 1995 Weiss Lake generated in excess of $200 million annually to the local economy, a number “comparable to the economic impact of the largest business in any city in the state.”

The report also claimed that Weiss Lake's impact also extends beyond tourism dollars.

“As a scenic resource, the lake enhances the value of land and homes in the community and attracts growth and development,” the report read. “Like any resource or investment, the lake's capacity to generate economic development has to be protected.”

One positive outcome of the 1997 report was the establishment of the Weiss Lake Improvement Association (WLIA), a volunteer organization that has spent years promoting and protecting Weiss Lake.

Several years ago, WLIA took over efforts to release thousands of crappie into the lake every spring. WLIA also recently began regular testing of dozens of locations around the lake for excess levels of bacteria and other nutrients that could indicate sources of illegal sewage. WLIA President Carolyn Landrem last week told The Post she plans to begin releasing the results of those tests later this spring.

The report begins its recommendations section with an ominous warning should its findings go unheeded.

“It is undeniable that the future health of Weiss Lake is critical,” it read. “If the lake is not managed properly the primary engine for all future growth will be lost. Such a loss would destroy the local tourism industry and reduce private property values countywide.”