Cobb County Water System released over seven million gallons of treated wastewater that did not meet required environmental standards into Lake Allatoona on Sunday and another 6 million on Monday.
Officials are investigating the cause of the water not meeting standards, which have not impacted water quality in the lake or the drinking supply, testing shows.
The Northwest Water Reclamation Facility has had several such spills in recent months, including before the Memorial Day weekend and again last week. In each case the water had been disinfected and did not impact the drinking water supply, county officials said in news releases.
The spills were all discovered after routine water sampling found the wastewater had not been fully treated to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division standards. Each day, the facility is approved to release up to 12 million gallons of treated water. If the water does not meet specific standards, it is classified as a spill and must be reported, according to the news release.
County spokesman Ross Cavitt said staff are still determining the cause of the issues but believe some sort of substance may be entering the facility and “throwing the operations out of whack.”
“It can be caused by grease or something that is toxic to the microorganisms in the plant,” Cavitt said. “They believe they can adjust plant operations to compensate in the meantime.”
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