The Peachtree

City Water and Sewer Authority has agreed to settle with the state Environmental

Protection Division over a fine for two separate sewer spills in 1999.

WASA has agreed

to pay the EPD a $13,000 fine and implement a special environmental project

to enhance water quality, said WASA General Manager Larry Turner. The

project must be approved by the EPD, he added.

The original

two spills covered by the fine include an estimated 20,000 gallons that

leaked into Lake Peachtree June 3, 1999 when a WASA contractor working

on a pump station turned the pumps off and forgot to turn them back on,

Turner said. Ironically, that contractor was installing a system that

would allow WASA to monitor its pump stations for problems via a computerized

network.

The other spill

involved a problem where tree roots had intruded into a sewer line, causing

a spill of approximately 1,000 gallons, Turner said. According to the

consent order, that June 30, 1999 spill was discharged into Lake Peachtree

from a manhole located just above the intake where the Fayette County

Water System pulls water from the lake to serve the county.

The matter

has lingered over three years partly because WASA and EPD differed over

the fine amount, Turner said. EPD originally wanted a $30,000 fine, but

after WASA officials did some research, it was decided that figure was

too high, Turner said.

At first, WASA

offered to settle the matter for $10,000, but it was later reduced to

$5,000, Turner said.

The issue was

eventually referred to the office of the Georgia Attorney General, where

the case was essentially forgotten about, Turner said.

Eventually,

the EPD decided to issue an administrative order requiring WASA to use

a special TV camera system to inspect its sewer lines; the order also

required WASA to follow certain maintenance procedures, Turner said.

The financial

resolution to the matter now, however, comes at a time when WASA is waiting

for the EPD to sign off on its permit to expand its sewer treatment operations.

The expansion plan involves shuttering the aged Flat Creek sewage treatment

plant, doubling the capacity of the Rockaway plant to 4 million gallons

a day and using providing specially treated sewage to Planterra Ridge

golf course to be used as irrigation instead of pumping the water into

Line Creek during the summer months.

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