A comedy of

errors combined to allow an unknown amount of deicing fluid from Hartsfield

International Airport to infiltrate Fayette County's water supply, officials

said in a special hearing Friday.

Ben DeCosta,

airport general manager, promised to do everything possible to make sure

it doesn't happen again.

"We are

very sensitive to what happened, and pained that we might have had something

that happened at the airport that had an impact on the community,"

DeCosta told about 50 residents gathered for a hearing called by state

Rep. Kathy Cox at Peachtree City Hall.

Drainage and

a holding tank under the airport's deicing pads aren't adequate to handle

the spent fluid from a major snowstorm like the one that hit the airport

Jan. 3, DeCosta said, promising to have a fleet of tanker trucks on hand

to collect the overflow during any future deicing events.

"We got

ourselves together, took a look at our situation and determined what we

need to do to protect you and your family," DeCosta said.

The deicing

pads' holding tank is designed to hold 80,000 gallons of the fluid, which

consists of ethylene and propylene glycol mixed with hot water, DeCosta

said. Before Jan. 3, the system had never been faced with more than 60,000

gallons in one event, he added.

The fluid is

slowly pumped into the South River Treatment Plant and treated; then the

treated water is discharged into the Flint River, one of Fayette's sources

of drinking water.

DeCosta said

the system also is designed so that, after one deicing event, the holding

tank is emptied and ready for the next one.

But this time,

not only did the airport pump out far more fluid than the tank could hold

about 180,000 gallons but when airport officials examined the tank, they

discovered that the 3/4-inch line leading to the sewer plant was clogged

and the tank was not empty when deicing operations started Jan. 3.

"I don't

know how much went into the river," DeCosta told the gathered residents.

He also denied earlier reports that the airport had reported only a 250-gallon

spill. "What we said is we don't know," he said.

Hartsfield

environmental officials immediately collected samples from the Flint River

close to the airport's storm water discharge, DeCosta said, and tests

of the water later revealed that water flowing into the river carried

about 1,600 parts per million of glycol.

When the spill

was discovered, DeCosta added, the airport immediately notified the state

Environmental Protection Division, and still more errors ensued.

In attempts

to get more information on the spill, EPD officials were unable to get

through to Hartsfield by phone, said Bert Langley, EPD's emergency response

manager.

"We frankly

blew it," Langley said in response to an angry question from the

audience. He said EPD's phone numbers for the airport were all office

numbers that shut down on weekends. EPD has now made sure the agency can

get through to the airport on weekends, he said.

It was Monday,

Jan. 7 four days later before EPD officials talked to airport officials

and learned about the extent of the spill. It was days later still Jan.

10 before results of the early tests were available.

were coming in to EPD and the Fayette County Water System from residents

complaining of a sweet smell to the water.

"I think

the volume here just flabbergasted all of us," said Langley.

The airport

will use tanker trucks to handle overflow from its system until a new

one is built in conjunction with expansion programs underway at the facility,

said DeCosta.