New wastewater spill rules will affect WASA

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The state of Georgia has adopted new regulations for reporting spills from publicly-owned wastewater systems.

Any spill, no matter how minor, must now be reported to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and local media outlets including radio and television stations, said Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority General Manager Larry Turner. Also, signs shall be placed at the site of the spill to better notify citizens of the incident, Turner said.

Both the media notices and signs should include information about the date and location of the spill, what caused it, the estimated amount of the discharge, which waterway it was spilled into and the corrective action taken to mitigate or reduce the affects of the spill.

The signs are required to be posted for seven consecutive days; the media notifications are to take place within 24 hours after the spill is discovered.

The new regulations also require wastewater operators to notify the health department of any spills.

There are also new regulations for reporting major spills, which include:

Publishing a notice of the spill in the legal organ newspaper of the county; and

Notifying each county, municipality and other public agency whose public water supply is within 20 miles downstream and any others which could be affected by the major spill. This might not affect WASA much since there aren't any nearby cities on Line Creek which could be affected by spills, Turner said.

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