Atlanta airport reports 33,000-gallon sewage spill near runway

A sewage spill near a runway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport released around 33,000 gallons into a wooded area, airport officials said Wednesday.

The spill occurred Tuesday at a sewer lift station near the west end of Runway 10-28. The sewage flowed into an area next to Sullivan Creek, according to an airport report.

The cause remains under investigation.

Airport officials said the lift station resumed normal operations about 90 minutes after the spill began. Crews applied a neutralizing agent to the affected ground and began monitoring water quality downstream in accordance with Georgia Environmental Protection Division requirements.

The spill did not disrupt flights or passenger services, and the airport continues to operate normally.

Hartsfield-Jackson issued the notice because publicly owned wastewater treatment agencies are legally required to notify the media when a sewage spill exceeds 10,000 gallons.

For Marvin Tucker, the smell near his home, located close to the airport, is impossible to ignore.

"A lot of times throughout the days, you can actually smell it on the expressway when you go through the fifth tunnel. It's there. It's like nowhere else," Tucker said.

For Tucker, the spill was another reminder to be prepared.

"Luckily, I keep drinking water in the house, you know, and just extra jugs. You never know what's going on these days," he said.

Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers says the concern doesn't end at the airport.

"The immediate impact to downstream neighbors, towns and cities is that the uses of the river, all of them, for drinking water, for wading, for swimming, for fishing. All of those uses are impaired," Rogers said.

He says this latest spill is part of a much bigger concern, saying he has documented repeated instances of pollution around the airport.

"It was the fuel spill back in the winter that everything kind of coalesced for everybody, and we all agreed that our patience had run out," Rogers said.

Rogers says Flint Riverkeeper has notified the city of Atlanta that it intends to take legal action over that broader pattern of spills.

He says the lawsuit will likely be filed in November.

Airport officials said they are working with state and local partners to limit the spill's effects. The investigation remains ongoing.

Rogers is advising people to stay out of the water for the next three days while Flint Riverkeeper conducts its water quality sampling.