City of Atlanta

Department of Watershed Management

Press Release

September 22, 2009 – Flooding caused by yesterday’s rain has severely damaged the RM Clayton Water Reclamation Center, the City’s largest wastewater treatment facility. The plant’s primary and secondary treatment capabilities have been compromised, and minimally treated wastewater is being discharged into the Chattahoochee River. Commissioner Rob Hunter estimates the damage in the “tens of millions of dollars” and says the Department cannot offer a timeline for repairs until the floodwaters recede. Mayor Shirley Franklin has indicated that she would seek state and federal help to fund the repairs.

The Chattahoochee crested at 12 feet above its normal level after storms dumped between six and 15 inches on parts of metropolitan Atlanta. Built in 1935, the RM Clayton plant is located on the bank of the river near the Fulton County-Cobb County border. The plant’s normal treatment capacity is 180 million gallons a day; it can treat as much as 240 million gallons a day on a short-term basis.

The Department is fast-tracking repairs. Meanwhile, Commissioner Hunter is urging residents who live downstream of the plant to avoid the river. “There will be sewage in
the river,” he said. “But, besides that, floodwaters are deceptive and dangerous.”

The City’s drinking water plants came through the storm well, and there are no issues with drinking water and no boil-water advisories in effect.

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The Department of Watershed Management provides drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment services to more than 1 million people over a 650-square-mile area.

Press releases