- Pollution & cleanup
- Water
- 1961; settlement December 2010
- DeKalb County
- Location approximate
Snapfinger wastewater plant and DeKalb's sewer settlement
DeKalb County's main sewage plant on the South River, opened in 1961. Overflows across the county system led to a federal Clean Water Act settlement announced in December 2010.
The record
DeKalb says the Snapfinger plant began operating in 1961, drew odor complaints and a residents' lawsuit about 15 years later, was expanded in 1983 to 36 million gallons a day, and began another expansion in June 2012. On December 13, 2010 the EPA and Georgia announced a settlement requiring about $700 million in sewer assessment and rehabilitation, a $453,000 penalty, and cleanups on the South River, South Fork Peachtree Creek and Snapfinger Creek (SRWA dates the decree to 2011). SRWA says the state declared all 60 miles of the South River 'extremely polluted' in 1991, and American Rivers put it fourth on its 2021 Most Endangered Rivers list, citing sewage.
Today: DeKalb County's Snapfinger Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility.