ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta is opening an independent investigation after thousands of fish were found dead in the Chattahoochee River.
The Atlanta Department of Watershed Management said it has “retained Brown and Caldwell, an engineering and consulting firm, to conduct an independent evaluation of system operations at the West Area CSO Tunnel Treatment Facility and the associated tunnel operations.”
Channel 2 Action News first reported on the fish kill last month, which the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper called one of the worst fish kills in years.
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For 20 miles downstream of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, the riverkeeper found banks coated in black muck and thousands of dead fish.
“I’ve never seen anything this devastating on any water system,” Jason Ulseth of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said.
During flash flooding last month, sewage overflowed into the river, causing the oxygen levels in the water to drop.
Because of that, basically any fish in that stretch of the Chattahoochee River suffocated.
The city says the independent review “will assess rainfall conditions, system performance during the event, and the source of reported sludge residue, as well as determine whether observed conditions are directly related to the storm or other contributing factors. The evaluation will also include recommendations to strengthen operations, maintenance, and system readiness.”
“We’re looking at every aspect of our operations and what engineering measures we have that may have failed or may have not worked under the rain event that we experienced on the night of May 20th,” Watershed Commissioner Greg Eyerly said.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is also investigating the fish kill.
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