Millions of gallons of polluted water spilled into Allatoona Lake over the weekend due to a failure at Cobb County Marietta Water Authority’s Wycoff Water Treatment Plant, the county said in a statement Tuesday.
The accident resulted in “a large quantity” of lime slurry being released into the sanitary sewer. From there, the slurry made its way to a nearby wastewater treatment plant where it overwhelmed the good bacteria that help clean the water of contaminants, creating an imbalance in the water treatment process.
The water ultimately released into the reservoir was disinfected but “did not fully meet the facility’s discharge standards,” according to the statement.
Glenn Page, general manager of the Cobb Marietta Water Authority, said he believes the spill started around noon on Saturday and was resolved within 24 hours. The wastewater plant releases an average of 8.4 million gallons a day into Allatoona Lake.
Page said it’s unclear what if any impact the spill could have on the ecology of the lake, although algae blooms could be a concern.
“We haven’t had the opportunity to start collecting samples at this point,” he said. “The biological activity in the lake that that spill could spur on is more likely to occur in warmer water.”
The county said it is bringing in microorganisms from other plants to reestablish the bacteria population at its wastewater facility, adding that the spill “has no impact on Cobb County’s drinking water.”
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