August 16, 2005
By S. Heather Duncan
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
The Macon Water Authority has agreed to pay a penalty of $18,813 to the
state Environmental Protection Division for 22 sewage spills that
occurred between June 2004 and February 2005.
Roots and grease were the main causes of the spills, the authority
reported to the EPD
The largest was a major spill of 23,457 gallons, which occurred
at Emery Highway and Industrial Way East last summer.
The EPD considers any spill greater than 10,000 gallons to be
major. That intersection has been the site of numerous major
sewage spills
during the past three years.
Authority Director Tony Rojas said the portion of the fine associated
with that spill - $2,813 - will be paid by the contractor that
caused it, Southeast Pipe Survey.
The company had been hired by the authority to rehabilitate a
manhole at the site.
Last year, the authority paid $80,750 in fines for spills that
occurred in 2003 and 2004.
"You can see where we were and where we are this year. We're obviously
doing a lot better," Rojas said.
The number and size of sewage spills has been dropping during
the past two years, authority records show. The authority has
been responsible for 20 minor and three major spills so far
this year, compared with 60
minor spills and six major spills in 2004.
The amount of sewage contaminating streams and rivers was 457,182
gallons in 2004, according to authority records. So far this
year 231,725 gallons of sewage have reached state waters.
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