Heavy rainfall that flushed about 11 million gallons of partially-treated wastewater out of Hinesville’s Fort Stewart treatment plant most likely won’t result in a fine for the city, according to Georgia Department of Natural Resources Compliance Specialist Jonathan Dance.
“The cause of it was just the sheer act of rainfall,” Dance said. “There was so much water coming in, it was pushing the water out before it was fully treated.” While the plant is “back under control,” he added, some lift stations around town are still posing issues.
Hinesville City Manager Kenneth Howard explained in an e-mail that the city had gotten nearly 10 inches of rain Sunday night through Monday. While the plant is built to handle 7.15 million gallons per day from both Hinesville and Fort Stewart’s cantonment, “the plant received 11.12 million gallons of combined stormwater and wastewater, exceeding the design capacity by 55.5%. This excess flow inhibited the plant’s ability to fully treat the wastewater sufficiently. We did get partial treatment; therefore, the spill was not untreated wastewater.”
The wastewater, which is separate from the city’s drinking water supply, travels from a discharge canal on the base to Taylors Creek, then flows into the Canoochee River , the Ogeechee River, Ossabaw Sound and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.
The facility’s discharge permit with Georgia Environmental Protection Division specifies a daily limit for total suspended solids of 25 milligrams per liter, Howard wrote, “and in this case, we recorded 66 mg/l for TSS. We predict we will have more issues until the flow returns to normal, which may take several days.”
EPD’s permit requires the city to take samples both upstream and downstream for one year after the spill, which Howard says will include pH (which measures the acidity level in the water), dissolved oxygen, temperature, fecal coliform bacteria (which can make people sick and contaminate shellfish), fish kills, “and other parameters” if GAEPD so requires.
Hinesville’s Public Works Department, which is responsible for taking care of the system, “will continue to monitor the situation daily until the flow returns to normal,” Howard wrote, adding that the system is working as it should, “but due to the exponential amount of rainfall over the past 48 hours, flows into the facility far exceed design capacity….The city has a good history of permit compliance with the GA EPD. The city currently has no damage or repair costs, and any additional manpower cost is burdened to the city’s public works contractor,” ESG.
The Macon-based contractor has handled a number of the city’s essential services since 2016, including water, sewer, wastewater treatment, streets and drainage, stormwater, parks and grounds, fleet maintenance, mosquito control, sanitation, meter reading, and construction maintenance, according to Hinesville’s website.
Gary Gilliard, who also serves as county commissioner for District 5, is Public Works’ project director. The Current was unable to reach Gilliard for comment on the spill.
