Atlanta's Combined Sewer Overflow Facility on Intrenchment Creek

WHAT IS A COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW FACILITY (CSO)?

Understanding Atlanta’s sewage pollution requires understanding how a Combined Sewer System (CSS) works. Watch this PBS Video on CSS to learn more.

 

The headwaters of Intrenchment Creek, the South River’s largest urban tributary, start in downtown Atlanta, winding southeast through once thriving African American communities at the heart of the city. These communities experience persistent flooding, combined sewer spills, and CSO overflow events that negatively impact the environment and quality of life for residents of the Summerhill, Mechanicsville, and Peoplestown communities.

ATLANTA’S CUSTER AVE CSO FACILITY ON INTRENCHMENT CREEK

The Custer Avenue CSO (780 Custer Ave SE/855 Sloan Cir SE) was built in the mid ‘80s as part of the East Area Combined Sewer System (CSS), along with the East Area Intrenchment Creek Water Quality Control Facility (WQCF), which collects both stormwater runoff and sanitary sewage in a single set of pipes. The CSO functions by diverting combined stormwater and sewage to a treatment plant. During rain events, CSO overflow events enter into Intrenchment Creek. This has led to historic and ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act, contributing to water degradation and ecological harm.

How the CSO facility overflows, degrades water quality, and violates the Clean Water Act: Overflows are a designed feature of older combined sewer systems to prevent backups into homes and businesses during major storm events. The discharge of raw or partially treated sewage during CSO events significantly degrades the water quality of Intrenchment Creek. Atlanta has a long history of violations related to its combined sewer system, including the Custer Avenue facility, resulting in federal oversight via it’s 1998 Consent Decree.

Learn more about the Custer Ave CSO

• • •

THE FLOODING & POLLUTING OF SE ATLANTA NEIGHBORHOODS

Peoplestown flood event, 2022. Image credit: Rough Draft Atlanta

Perry Holloway at his flooded residence on South Avenue, 2019. Image credit: Curtis Compton

 

Atlanta’s incoming Director of Watershed, Greg Eyerly, addresses concerned citizens. Peoplestown, June 2025.

 

Peoplestown Flooding: Who Pays, Who Benefits

In the wake of the Atlanta Braves’ exodus (2016) and the purchase of the stadium and associated parking lots by Georgia State University and developer Carter USA, the City of Atlanta has failed miserably in its responsibility to require these and other upstream landowners, namely, Atlanta Public Schools, to effectively manage development and re-development stormwater impacts that are the source of combined sewage flooding in the Peoplestown community.      

Atlanta’s “solution”? Custer Avenue Capacity Relief Multi-Benefit Project
A proposed park, dubbed by residents as the Peoplestown “Poop Park”, retrofitted to accommodate a 20-million-gallon vault to hold untreated sewage and stormwater under a grass lawn is Atlanta’s so-called solution. The proposed project is as offensive as the name, negatively impacting all measures of community well-being – quality of life, environmental health, and economic security.

Poop Park is not a solution. Based on calculations for the sewer-shed, a 2,700 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) treatment capacity at the Custer Ave facility would substaintially reduce Combines Sewer Overflow (CSO) events at the facility. The Poop Park vault will hold 20 million gallons, a fraction of the quantity needed to meaningfully reduce or eliminate community flooding, downstream flooding, or CSO events.  Even the name, Custer Avenue Capacity Relief Multi-Benefit Project, suggests capacity relief at the Custer Avenue combined sewer overflow facility. Again, nothing is further from the truth. 

This project is the path of least resistance. Unlike wealthy and politically connected upstream businesses and property owners, that rightfully should be a part of the solution, the residents of Peoplestown are virtually powerless to stop this destructive project.

In 2020, the Intrenchment Creek One Water Task Force produced a report – Advancing Equity and Addressing Flooding and Combined Sewer Spills in the Heart of Atlanta detailing real solutions could look like.

For more information and to get involved, go to IntrenchmentATL.com and contact: IntrenchmentATL@gmail.com, Contact@intrenchmentatl.com

DeKalb notifies EPA: County will miss 2027 consent decree deadline, EPA requests status conference

 

"In particular, the County says it will miss the December 2027 deadline to construct wet-weather storage projects that are needed in the Snapfinger Basin to eliminate sewage overflows called Sanitary Sewer Overflows ("SOs") at 14 Priority Fix List ("PFL") locations in South DeKalb County."

So, even the "priority" areas in south DeKalb will not be fixed. Dig into the EPA status request and declarations including proposed "solutions" to sewage debacle and costs with major implications for the environment and water/sewer rates.

Below c/o @katdos and @unbelievabledekalbwaterbills:

Former CEO Thurmond alerted EPA on the *last possible day* of his tenure - December 31st, 2024, that Dekalb would FAIL to meet the consent decree deadline for repairing sewer pipes. Even with splitting the county into "priority" and "non-priority" areas, county decision makers failed to repair the "priority" list they curated themselves.

According to a local environmental attorney quoted in the Decaturish article, the county "underestimated the amount of sewer work needed by 50 percent" and "most puzzling is the county citing environmental justice concerns for its own failure to reduce pollution in the most overburdened communities."

Dig into the EPA status request and declarations including proposed "solutions" to the debacle with major implications for the environment and water/sewer rates.

 

"Priority" areas are in orange. "Non priority" areas, as defined by the consent decree, have no deadline for sewer and water pipe repair and make up 69% of the county. Much of the non priority areas are in south DeKalb where the percentage of minority population is over 90% (blue) and where the most sewage spills and largest volume of spills occur.

Entire navigable South River Water Trail now designated for recreation

 

In October of 2024, twenty-seven miles of river, from Honey Creek upstream to Panola Shoals, were approved for recreational use by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. The 13-mile section from Honey Creek downstream to Lake Jackson was upgraded to recreational use in 2021.

This historical feat means that the entire 40-mile navigable length of the river will benefit from higher water quality standards and protections that must be enforced by GA EPD. Backtracking is not allowed!

The achievement is directly due to YOUR recreation on the river and the tenacity of SRWA and our partners as we continue to improve recreational access. For all those who have paddled, volunteered, or checked-in on the river, we cannot commend or thank you enough!

DOWLOAD THE GEORGIA RIVER GUIDE APP

Looking for more in-depth attributes of the navigable South River Water Trail? We recommend downloading the Georgia River Guide mobile app and search South River Water Trail!. Created by Georgia River Network, the app is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.

Headwater Restoration: Remediation plan for the Tift hazardous waste site successfully negotiated

 

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE COMMUNITY GROUP, FORWARD TOGETHER EAST POINT, SRWA HAS SUCCESSFULLY NEGOTIATED A REMEDIATION PLAN WITH GA EPD FOR THE “TIFT” HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE THAT HAS CONTAMINATED THE HEADWATER FOR OVER 30 YEARS

After decades of waiting, action to remediate the “Tift” site in the headwater of the South River in East Point, GA are underway.  The major sticking point in negotiations has been cost.  Specifically, whether GlenSprings Holdings, the named principal responsible party (PRP), would be responsible for redressing contamination on two of the three properties that collectively make up the Tift site. To break the deadlock, at the encouragement of SRWA, the state has agreed to use funds from the Georgia Hazardous Waste Trust Fund (Trust Fund) to pay for cleanup of the two properties not owned by the PRP. The Trust Fund was created in 2004 for this purpose.  A remediation plan is being developed by GlenSprings for submission to GA EPD by November 30, 2024.  

To maximize improvement of water quality in the river’s headwaters, owners of the defunct General Chemical Company site in East Point, currently under a voluntary enforcement order, is meeting with GA EPD in early December to discuss moving ahead more expeditiously with remediation of the only other hazardous waste site impacting the river.

South River in the City: Connecting communities to their urban river

 

South River in the City’s flagship project is the extension of the South River Water Trail into metro Atlanta – from Panola Shoals all the way upstream to the headwater in East Point. Via passive recreation, this non-navigable portion of the South River Water Trail will offer recreation, environmental, and community benefits along the entire length of the river.

SRWA has recently broken ground on the project in partnership with the Atlanta Regional Commission and American Rivers. Expanding the water trail will focus on investing in public parks in the watershed, as well as potential new land protection, and connecting people to the watershed through passive recreation. As it has proven downstream, the water trail has the power to build a stronger relationship between people and the river by providing benefits such as recreation, place-making and community building, collective advocacy, and stronger regulatory standards.

Fighting for equitable water access & environmental protection

 

Tell DeKalb Commissioners: Protect Water & Water Affordability

In DeKalb County, Georgia, the Dekalb Water Watch coalition is organizing against exorbitant water bills, shutoffs, and sanitary sewage pollution. This crisis has disproportionately affected Black residents, residents with disabilities, and families, according to recent research by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Join Dekalb Water Watch and let the Board of Commissioners know that you demand fair and equitable treatment of all residents. Sign your name, follow the Facebook Group, and learn more here.

3-story fertilized mulch fire causes major contamination, fish kill on the South River

9.6.2024 South River at Forrest Park Rd runs black with soot and toxic runoff. Dissolved Oxygen levels cannot support aquatic life.

Mulch accumulates heat. Paired with very little rain in the area for weeks, the pile spontaneously combusted.

 

9.8.24 Dead minnow, South River at Constitution Lakes. Credit: Peter Peteet

9.9.24 South River at Intrenchment Creek. Credit: SRWA

9.9.24 Crayfish, South River at Bouldercrest Rd, approx 5 river miles downstream of the fire. Credit: Therese Kelly

9.9.24 Dead Sunfish (Bream), South River at Bouldercrest Rd. Credit: Therese Kelly

 

SRWA Files Complaint on Atlanta's Comprehensive Development Plan

June 10, 2024 // A COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER COMPLAINT was submitted to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) and Georgia Department of Community Affairs outlining numerous and ongoing violations of the Comprehensive Development Planning process by the City of Atlanta. In short, the City failed to disclose or involve the public of its omission of the 300-acre former Prison Farm parcel (from the South River Forest/Park) in its Comprehensive Development Plan.

On June 12th, SRWA and partners held a press conference outside an Atlanta CDP “Plan A” public meeting in Inman Park. Watch the conference on our social pages @southriverga.

YOU CAN SIGN THE COMPLAINT
Any individual, group, organization, business or other entity in the state of Georgia can sign. Your support helps demonstrate the breadth of communities excluded from Atlanta’s decision to lease 300 acres of public land to the Atlanta Police Foundation.

Please consider emailing ARC’s Director, Anna Roach, directly at aroach@atlantaregional.org. Tell her ARC must enforce its own public engagement process!

Thank you.

Advancing Environmental Justice: Leveraging the Triennial Review to Improve Water Quality

On April 17th, SRWA President Echols and University of California, Santa Barbara, students Erin Clem and Daniela Robles presented at the 2024 National Environmental Justice Conference and Training Program in Washington, D.C..

Below find Clem and Robles’ case study and the “Advancing EJ” presentation describing how SRWA has leveraged Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s Triennial Review and designated use standards to improve water quality.

 

SRWA Opening Statement
National Environmental Justice Conference
April 17, 2024 // Washington, D. C.

The Upper South River Watershed is an environmental justice community where more than 450,000 Black, marginalized, and other vulnerable people of color live.  

In 2010, violating 50-years of Clean Water Act (CWA) history and legal precedent, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) negotiated a federal CWA consent decree with DeKalb County that does not contain a deadline or date certain to stop sewage spills into the South River in south DeKalb County.  Additionally, and again breaking with precedent, the DeKalb County consent decree created “priority” and “non-priority” areas.   Most of the “non-priority” areas are also located in predominately Black south DeKalb County.  

In 2011, SRWA launched two flagship programs in support of improving water quality in the river through recreation – Beyond the Bridge kayak/canoe paddles, and the South River Water Trail, an initiative in partnership with downstream municipalities to provide safe and legal access to the river.  I learned later, upon discovering the Triennial review process, that recreational use is the only way to improve water quality and elevate water quality standards in Georgia’s waterways.

In 2019, during a random internet search, I happened across information about the Triennial review.  The process, how it works, and why it is so important are outlined in the Clean Water Act.  When coupled with stream restoration; specifically recreational use, the Triennial review process can be for others, as it was for SRWA, an effective tool for revitalizing environmental justice communities. 

Currently, the single most destructive threat to water quality in south DeKalb County is the failure of the 2010 DeKalb County consent decree to stop sewage spills into the South River and surrounding communities.

It will be difficult and likely impossible to overcome this unprecedented injustice.  However, the Triennial review process and its recreational use mandate provides the best opportunity to improve water quality but the responsibility and burden is blatantly unfair.  

We remain hopeful, through opportunities like this one to highlight this issue, and with continued focus on this environmental injustice, EPA will be compelled to revisit the DeKalb County consent decree and this issue and right this wrong!

Jacqueline Echols, PhD
Board President, SRWA

SRWA Files Administrative Complaint as Atlanta Seeks to Permanently Shut Down USGS Monitoring Site on Intrenchment Creek

Act Now!

Sign SRWA’s ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT to USGS and help keep the one and only crititcal water quality monitoring station on Intrenchment Creek! Your letter will automatically send to decision makers Holly Weyers, USGS SE Regional Director, and David Applegate, National Director.

QUICK OVERVIEW

Before City of Atlanta convinced USGS to shut down, the Water Quality Monitoring Station on Intrenchment Creek at Constitution Road collected data critical to ensuring that point-source sewage pollution from City of Atlanta’s Combined Sewage Overflow Facilities were not exceeding permitted limits on Intrenchment Creek. Downstream, when the creek joins the South River, the water bodies combine making any data collected from USGS’ suggested new location (a mile downstream on the South River) completely irrelevant to monitoring the pollution coming directly from City of Atlanta facilities on Intrenchment Creek. Sign the letter now!

Read: OUR PRESS RELEASE

Read: USGS’ Proposal to City of Atlanta (to move the station from Intrenchment Creek to 1+ mile downstream on the South River)

USGS Water Quality Monitoring Station on Intrenchment Creek at Constitution Road before it was dismantled. Sign the letter now!

 

SE Atlanta: Major Deforestation & Mining Threat

forest Bordering the River Permitted for Mining

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Write City Planning Commissioner Jahnee Prince & City Arborist David Zaparanick.

KEY MESSAGES:
Enforce the Atlanta Tree Protection Ordinance.
Enforce City Code Sec. 6-25.001 requiring public notice, a hearing, a ZRB recommendation and decision by City Council.

Unanswered Questions:
Did the Atlanta law department make the decision that a Special Use Permit isn’t necessary?  If not, then who?
Why is Atlanta City Code Sec. 6-25.001 not being implemented or followed?

Suggested subject line: 2811 Forrest Park Rd: Enforce Tree Ordinance & City Code 6-25.001

A surface mining permit was issued to 2811 Forrest Park Road by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) on 12.19.2019. The site is now actively being mined and is located at the confluence of a major tributary and the South River. It is adjacent to South Atlanta High School and across the street from the Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve.

The permit allows the extraction of clay from 55 acres on the site which is zoned I-2 Heavy Industrial. Zoning is the only criteria used to determine if surface mining is allowable.

Status update according to City of Atlanta Arborist Department:

The Stop Work Order has been lifted/removed by the Arborist Dept and mining operations have resumed.  The mining operation can continue to operate without the necessary Special Use Permit until such time the City’s law department decides whether a permit is needed.

City Code Sec. 6-25.001 is applicable to this site. It states under Intent: Classes of special permits "special use permits (including extraction or removal of sand, gravel, topsoil, clay, dirt…) require public notice, a hearing, a ZRB recommendation, and are decided by City Council."

Unanswered Questions:

  • Did the Atlanta law department make the decision that a Special Use Permit isn’t necessary?  If not, then who?

  • Why is Atlanta City Code Sec. 6-25.001 not being implemented or followed?

Additional Details:

  1. Initial surface mining permit disturbs 55-acres.  Request to disturb an additional 19-acres submitted.

  2. No permits have been issued by the City, although state approval does not exempt adherence to local ordinances.

  3. Law Department is reviewing to determine if the mining permit from Georgia EPD is exempt from following the tree ordinance.   

  4. No recompense has been assessed or collected by the Atlanta Arborist Department.

  5. No Reclamation Plan provided or approved for the site.  

Hold ARC accountable to the South River Forest plan!

Atlanta Mayor Commandeers South River Forest Vision

 
 

CALL TO ACTION:

Email ARC Director Anna Roach: aroach@atlantaregional.org
Sample letter below.

SUMMARY:

Over a one-year period (January-December) 2022, the Atlanta Regional Commission planned and conducted a community engagement process throughout south and southeast Atlanta in support of the South River Forest vision. South River Watershed Alliance served on the Project Management Team. From the process the ARC produced the South River Forest Community Development Action Plan. 

ARC’s role throughout the study process was “to serve as the facilitator and convener, to create an inclusive and engaging process, and to outline consensus-based recommendations for the City of Atlanta and Dekalb County to act upon.” 

“In addition to a community engagement and preliminary findings summary, this document includes a series of recommendations by which the South River Forest area may be protected, connected, and activated. A suggested timeframe, responsible party(ies), and potential funding source(s) is specified for each recommendation. “

Instead of implementing the will of citizen residents, Mayor Dickens is now promoting his own Task Force and agenda for creating a police training facility centered on the South River Forest vision. Addressing environmental disparities to the extent envisioned in the SRF Community Development Action Plan (CDAP) has never been contemplated or even attempted by the City of Atlanta. Successful achievement of the goals and aspirations of the SRF CDAP as voiced by the residents of the area depends upon ARC’s continued active unbiased and uncensored involvement going forward. And not mired in the mayor’s contrived attempt to usurp a legitimate community process to further his own political agenda.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Subject line: Mayor's Task Force UNDERMINES South River Forest plan & ARC’s Report

Director Roach:

Please do not let the Mayor’s office commandeer the South River Forest Plan. South River communities deserve environmental justice and real investment just like Chattahoochee River communities receive.

Mayor Dickens' Task Force is conflating Cop City with conservation! His actions are out of integrity with ARC’s plan and public input. The South River Forest plan is a conservation area that includes the entire Prison Farm property as protected greenspace – representing the heart of the forest.

Further, ARC’s process clearly demonstrated that environmental justice is a #1 concern among hundreds of area residents and made it crystal clear that the “need to protect the South River Forest is increasingly urgent”.

The lease of 300 acres and development of 85-acres at the Prison Farm are incompatible with the SRF Plan. In fact, Atlanta cannot even meet the greenspace requirements of its own lease legislation. Planting trees or buying land will not make the Training Center development compatible or acceptable.

City of Atlanta has never attempted to invest in southeast Atlanta or address environmental disparities as envisioned in the SRF Plan. Achieving the goals and aspirations of residents depends heavily upon ARC’s ongoing unbiased and uncensored involvement. Please champion the integrity of the SRF CDAP that so many residents and stakeholders already participated in.

Sincerely,
Your name

STAY INFORMED

Receive updates & event info!