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Grease, baby wipes cause sewage to flow into creek

By Craig Lucie
By Craig Lucie

Thanks to a tip from an alert neighbor, the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper helped stop a sewage spill flowing into a local creek.

One neighbor told Channel 2's Craig Lucie he smelled it for a while and it was definitely raw sewage.

The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper shared video with Channel 2 Action News showing raw sewage spewing into Sandy Creek in northwest Atlanta.

“It was very bad! Our tests indicate it was succeeding the EPA standards…incredibly. It was 100 times the EPA safety standards. It was untreated sewage going into the creek,” said Mike Meyers with the Riverkeeper.

Lucie and his photographer followed Meyers as he used a machete to get near the manhole that was spewing raw sewage.

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The area is overgrown with kudzu, and you can see debris left behind from what was a nasty problem discovered April 19.

“Unfortunately with these cases we don’t know how long they have been flowing. With regular testing we catch the spill quickly,” said Meyers.

A resident told Lucie that he kept smelling a terrible odor in the Collier Heights neighborhood.

“I smelled something like sewage. I know it was sewage,” said C.E. Lock.

The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper told Lucie grease and baby wipes clogged the pipe which caused the manhole to overflow sending the raw sewage right into this creek.

Meyers says they received a hotline call from one of their neighborhood water watch volunteers. They immediately started investigating, found the source in the woods near I-20 and called the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management. They quickly sent a crew to shut off the spill.

Watershed management sent Lucie this statement:

“…the spill volume was 3,320 gallons, which is considered a minor spill.  Debris and grease in the sewer line contributed to the spill. It is critical not to throw trash into storm drains or pour grease down kitchen drains because they may lead to sewer overflows.  Disposable wipes also impact our sewer infrastructure.”

Watershed management has been pushing their campaign ‘No Wipes in Pipes’ campaign since 2015.

The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper says this is a perfect example of making a phone call if you smell sewage near waterways because they will always come out and investigate the source.

Cox Media Group

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