DeKalb County sets new annual record for sewage spills

This year, 2019, is a record year for sewer spills in DeKalb County.

There had been 184 spills in the county as of Sept. 1, 2019, according to a table accompanying a news story in the latest print edition of The Champion newspaper, the county's legal organ. At least three other spills have occured since then:
- There was a "major" spill of 18,840 gallons on Robert Nash Court in Tucker on Sept. 3. A blockage sent sewage into Lake Prestwick.
- There was a "major" spill of 217,800 gallons of wasterwater on Sept. 6 at 984 S. Indian Creek Dr. in Stone Mountain. Sewage flowed into Snapfinger Creek because of a structural defect in a 30-foot creek crossing, a county notice said.
- Four days later, on Sept. 10, there was a "minor" spill of 1,900 gallons of sewage on Carson Valley Dr. in Tucker.

Champion table of annual sewage spills through Sept. 1

Even though 2019 has more than three months to go, the total so far this year of 187 spills surpasses the total for the entire year of 2017, when 186 spills occurred. At the current rate, DeKalb County will have had 240 sewage spills by year end.

So far in 2019, DeKalb County has had more spills than in any year since, and including, 2009. The county, which has been under a consent agreement with the state and federal governments since 2010, blames an aging sewer system for the overflows.

The South River Watershed Alliance said in July it plans to file a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the county for its “failure to meet critical deadlines in the EPA and EPD Consent Decree.” DeKalb County has told the federal government it will not meet its June 2020 deadline for repairs in priority areas.