Barton: What reeks about rivers

July 13, 2011
Savannah Morning News

Treated industrial waste water from King America Fininshing, Inc. empties from a drain pipe into the Ogeechee River in Screven County near the community of Dover. Many in the area believe water from the plant is responsible for the recent fish kill down stream of this point in the river. (John Carrington/Savannah Morning News)

This summer’s massive fish kill in the lower Ogeechee River got plenty of attention in coastal Georgia.

Reeking carcasses tend to have that effect on most noses.

Many residents — and not just those who fish, swim or boat — remain irate about what they believe is a too-tolerant approach to industries and municipalities that are permitted by the state to discharge treated wastes into the currents of this wonderful waterway, especially during periods of low flow. Like now.

There’s even a grassroots crusade to have the Ogeechee reclassified as “recreational.” It’s a noble effort. But it’s going to be unpopular with those who use this river as a cheap, convenient waste dump and who have allies in the Georgia Legislature and governor’s office.

The real question is whether any of these down state concerns are getting noticed at the state Environmental Protection Division in Atlanta.

It’s hard to tell.

Fortunately, coastal Georgians will learn soon enough about where EPD officials stand.

That’s because there’s an important test case pending before the EPD regarding another prized river in this part of Georgia — the Altamaha.

According to Deborah Sheppard, executive director of the Altamaha Riverkeeper organization, the Rayonier mill in Jesup is requesting changes from the EPD that could “delay or lessen” a previously mandated cleanup of pollutants in industrial effluent into the Altamaha River.

Rayonier made this request June 11, Sheppard said. That’s about three weeks after thousands of fish in the Ogeechee went belly up downriver from the King America Finishing textile plant, a Chicago-owned facility in Screven County that’s the only large industrial facility with significant discharges into the river.

In Rayonier’s case, the company wants to amend a three-year-old order that requires installation of color reducing technology to help reduce pollution, the riverkeeper said. Why? To accommodate a change in its product lines. Business reasons.

“Our river, its communities, and citizens need corrective action now by the EPD to make our river healthy,” Sheppard said in a recent statement. “In 2008, the EPD approved and amended Rayonier’s consent order allowing the company 10 years to clean up half the color pollution. Three years later, our monitoring and field observations don’t show any improvement and the proposed amendment will create even further delays and more pollution.”

One interesting thing about this type of discharge is that it doesn’t seem to kill the fish. It just makes them stink. That goes for the river and its environs, too.

“For years boaters, hunters and fishermen have complained about Rayonier’s discharge of over 50 million gallons daily of highly colored, foul-smelling wastewater into the Altamaha River from its two discharge pipes just below Jesup,” Sheppard said. “People who recreate in the area report sandbars are stained brown by the discharge color and that an obnoxious odor permeates the air for miles — all the way to the Altamaha delta.

“Fishermen report they think they are catching good fish in the area, only to find when they return home and begin to clean them that the fish reek,” she added.

Georgia EPD Director F. Allen Barnes wasn’t involved in that agreement. He got the top job in 2009, with the blessing of then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.

So keep those sniffers on alert for something besides wildfire smoke in the wind.

How Barnes and his staff in Atlanta come down on the Altamaha case will help South Georgians make a key determination — whether what really reeks about coastal rivers is hundreds of miles north inside the I-285 beltway.

WSAV TV news story: Rayonier Discharge Makes Dirty Dozen Rivers List
Rayonier Discharge Makes Dirty Dozen Rivers List
Rayonier acknowledges waste issues
Twelve Rivers Make 'Dirty' List
Altamaha named 2nd-most damaged GA waterway
Rayonier Pulp Mill Discharge Destroys Fisheries - Georgia Water Coalition's Dirty Dozen Report (pdf)
ARK Comments to EPD on Consent Order Amendment
Altamaha Riverkeeper concerned about Rayonier’s request to revise cleanup order
Rayonier Discharge continues to Pollute Altamaha
Your Comments to EPD needed by July 20
Altamaha River must be protected
Altamaha Riverkeeper objecting to Rayonier's plans to change its method of cleaning up discharges
Area fishermen say fish caught near Rayonier stink and are inedible.
Barton: What reeks about rivers
Rayonier Stink Affects Fish, Residents, Tourists, and Tourism Dollar
Rayonier to cut smelly discharges into Altamaha River near Jesup
Rayonier's Request for Amending 2008 Consent Order