For Immediate Release
January 15, 2020
Contact:
Office of Policy and Communications
(678) 920-0857
Waterway Impacted by Sanitary Sewage Spill
ATLANTA – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), as a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) agency, is required by law to notify the media when a sanitary sewage discharge results in a water quality violation.
On January 11-13, 2020 (during rainfall events) such a spill occurred.
The spill occurred at the sanitary sewer aboveground discharge line manholes which are located directly north of the City of Atlanta, Watershed, Flint River pump station across from I-285 on the north side of Loop Road.
The cause of the spill is under investigation but appears to be related to the significant rainfall events over the past several days and the Flint River Pump station operating at maximum capacity.
It is estimated that an unknown volume of sanitary sewage discharged into the Flint River. Initial field samplings results indicate no significant impact to the Flint River.
ATL is working with state and local partners to mitigate the impact of the spill. Currently, the following corrective actions are underway:
1. Collect water samples at point of release, upstream and downstream sampling locations
2. Review all flow monitoring data available to determine the root cause if possible.
3. Meet and discuss with City of Atlanta, Watershed to determine capacity limitations and
procedures to prevent this from happening again.
