A damaged sewer main has spilled more than 200,000 gallons of sewage into Snapfinger Creek, according to DeKalb County authorities.
The major spill was discovered Friday near South Indian Creek Drive and Rowland Road. DeKalb County watershed management officials said a hole in the main line caused a 30-inch creek crossing line to dump the sewage straight into the tributary, which runs into the South River.
A total of 217,800 gallons were spilled, officials said. Crews worked through the weekend to cap the spill, installing temporary bypass pumps until the damaged line can be replaced, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Sanitation spills have become a regular problem for the county's overburdened sewer system.
County CEO Michael Thurmond said upgrading the aging system remains his top priority but acknowledged publicly in April that DeKalb will not make a 2020 deadline to do so. The deadline was set in a 2010 agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, which dedicated $326 million to the upgrades.
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Thurmond said it could take an additional five years to complete all the planned construction projects, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. As of December 2018, the county estimated only 52% of the construction projects would be finished by 2020.
In the aftermath of the latest spill, watershed management officials told Channel 2 they will monitor Snapfinger Creek for the next 12 months to check for water quality.
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