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.

State Environmental Protection

Division officials also came under fire during the hearing for a slow

response after the airport notified the agency about the spill of the

sweet-smelling fluid into the headwaters of the Flint River, one of the

sources of Fayette's water supply.

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.

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.

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