CRK says Atlanta sewage a growing problem – Valley Times-News

WEST POINT — At the West Point Rotary Club meeting Thursday at noon, Henry Jacobs, assistant director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, spoke about the organization’s ongoing mission to protect, defend and manage the Chattahoochee River, including its lakes, its tributaries and its watershed. Founded 30 years ago by Sally Bethea, the organization remains committed to the goal of restoring and maintaining the ecological health of the river for the people and wildlife who depend on it.

Jacobs grew up in the Atlanta area and graduated from LaGrange College with a degree in history. His main research project was on West Point Lake, a task that led to him getting a job with CRK about 11 years ago. He never regretted it.

“I love what I do,” he said. “I really enjoyed getting to know the people who live in the communities near Chattahoochee.”

Riverkeeper has experienced significant growth over the past three decades. He now has an office in the Oakfuskeee Conservation Center on Troup County’s Pyne Road Park. CRK has a staff of 18 full-time staff and numerous volunteers who handle tasks such as water monitoring along the river and its tributaries.

Opening in December 2023, the center is named for a famous Native American trail that ran through Troup and Chambers County. Several historical markers are located in areas where the trail would have passed. It crossed the Chattahoochee in an area between Pyre Road Park and Rocky Point. It was a connecting road to Ocfuskenena (the original burned village) and Ocfuscoochee Tallahassee. Ocfuskenena was located where Wehadkee Creek flowed into the river and Ocfuscoochee Tallahassee where Hardley Creek flowed into it.

The new conservation center is designed to minimize ecological impact and preserve the local ecosystem. It hosts many public and private events as well as outdoor activities such as hiking, horseback riding, camping and mountain biking.

Rising from Chattahoochee Spring, just off the Appalachian Trail, the river flows approximately 435 miles from the mountains of northern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. It heads southwest toward Alabama and turns back east at West Point, a factor that gave the 1828 village of Franklin a new name in 1832.

Water quality has always been a major issue for CRK, and the importance of the immense city of Atlanta has always been the focus. Continued monitoring of downstream water by Riverkeeper and other organizations was a factor in Atlanta investing more than $2 billion over the past 30 years in overhauling its sewer system.

“I like to think of this as an investment in improving water quality downstream,” Jacobs said.

The largest wastewater treatment plant in the state of Georgia (and one of the largest in the country) is located on the river southwest of Atlanta. It has a dozen clarifiers and must be constantly managed by expert staff. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened lately.

“We have learned that some personnel changes have taken place recently,” Jacobs said. “Something has changed there in the last six months. There were times when raw sewage was dumped into the river. Our testing showed that there were periods when there were too many bacteria in the river south of Atlanta. A wastewater treatment plant is not easy to manage. They made some improvements, but more in the form of temporary band-aids. We want the river to be as clean as possible. We didn’t get all the answers we needed on this. As for me, I’m going to swim in the lake this summer. What has been happening for about six months does not need to continue. I was told this was the worst situation we have seen in 20 years.

In a PowerPoint presentation, Jacobs showed photos of the treatment plant taken from a drone. He also showed photos taken near West Point in 2015. At the point where Waterworks Creek (or Oseligee) flows into the river, a large amount of muddy water was entering the Chattahoochee. A study into the cause of this phenomenon proved that it came from the new LaFayette solar farm. Several years ago, a 1,500-acre site just south of LaFayette was cleared to make way for a solar farm with 338,000 individual solar panels. It produces enough energy to power around 20,000 homes.

The solar farm’s owner, AL Solar A LLC, was cited for violating the Clean Water Act and fined $500,000.

Since then, the muddy water situation has improved significantly.

Jacobs thanked the many volunteers who work with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. “We have students from Point University and LaGrange College working with us to sample our water,” he said. We accept water samples to be brought to our center. We can have it analyzed for you.

Jacobs posted some photos taken by a drone above Langdale Dam. One had a clear aerial view of the place locals call Frazier Hole.

A club member asked him what he thought about removing the historic dams along the river near Valley. He said he was aware that many people in the Valley area didn’t like it, but that Georgia Power was inclined to do it. Currently, this is the responsibility of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Club member Greg Duffey told Jacobs that an area south of Langdale Dam was a great place to fish for schooling bass and that some very large fish had been caught over the years from that location in River. He feared it would disappear if the dams were removed.

“I think the shoal bass will do well as long as there are still shoals,” Jacobs said.

One of Riverkeeper’s most popular offerings are its floating classrooms. Troup County sixth graders have embraced it over the years. “We are continuing our fundraising efforts to continue programs like our floating classroom,” Jacobs said. “It’s good to get people out on the river. Individuals and corporate partners have been very helpful in continuing these programs. We appreciate this type of support.