FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Fulton County officials and riverkeepers are working to fix a sewer spill that caused a spike in E. coli levels in the Chattahoochee River.
A 15-mile stretch from the Big Creek Water Reclamation treatment facility, downstream, remains closed due to the partially treated spill. The closure has expanded since park officials first announced the issue last Friday.
"Public health and visitor safety is our number one priority at the park, that’s why we took the necessary steps to implement a partial closure of the Chattahoochee River from Chattahoochee Nature Center south to all downstream sections of the park," said Beth Wheeler, with the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area said.
The issue was discovered last Wednesday after high levels of E. coli, which is usually associated with a sewage spill, were found in the water. County officials say they started disinfecting to address the resulting high E. coli levels in the water, but that's not all they're doing.
RELATED: South of Chattahoochee River now closed due to E. coli levels from sewage spill at Roswell park
"We needed to restart the biological process as quickly as possible and we’re doing that in a couple of different manners," Fulton County Public Works Director David Clark said.
He explained that crews have a diversion line with Cobb County that allows them to send between five to seven million gallons of untreated wastewater to the facility managed by their partner. While they divert the untreated water across county lines, the remaining 15 million gallons of wastewater are being processed at the Big Creek Plant using UV.
The water is also getting help from the natural cleaning processes created by bugs, Clark added.
"We’re bringing in truckloads of good bugs from our Johns Creek facility. So we think about 12 trucks a day, they will allow us to establish an environment where the bugs are happy, consuming the organic material in the wastewater," he explained.
Still, the process is not a complete fix, as it is only a partial treatment, Clark said. Millions of gallons of contaminated water continue to flow into the river with E. coli levels above 100,000 units per milliliter instead of the permitted requirement of 200 units per milliliter by government standards.
Riverkeeper Jason Ulseth said that a malfunction at the treatment plant located in Roswell allowed untreated sewage to navigate into the river, raising E. coli levels in the Chattahoochee and making the water both unsafe and unhealthy.
When the plant is functioning properly, the sewage that comes from homes and businesses in the area passes through the treatment facility where it gets treated to a safe level and then pumped into the river in a "very safe" way, according to Ulseth.
Riverkeepers believe that with the county's solution, the situation is looking better.
"The latest update is there is some good news though. So, while the county has not been able to get the entire plant back in operation, they have been able to set up a disinfection system," Ulseth explained. "So, at this point, hopefully, anything that's going through the plant that's going into the river is now disinfected."
County officials say they continue to test the water quality and while E. coli levels are still high, they add that they have started seeing progress, noting E. coli levels are no longer increasing and have stabilized. They also say phosphorus levels are on the decline.
The county government issued the following statement:
We will continue to conduct extensive testing until E. coli levels are within normal range and all permit requirements are achieved. Fulton County has reported this issue to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD). We support the decision of the National Park Service to extend the partial closure of the Chattahoochee River until this matter is resolved. We also express our appreciation to the Chattahoochee River Keeper for their work in monitoring water quality and raising this issue. We are also in communication with the City of Roswell. This situation is not impacting the safety of the drinking water of Fulton County or the surrounding communities. We will continue to provide updates until conditions return to normal.
