Politics & Government

Ruling Against Forsyth County Has Implications for Roswell's Chattahoochee

The judge ruled that the Fowler/Shakerag wastewater plant can put cleaner water back into the Chattahoochee River inexpensively.

Forsyth County's Fowler/Shakerag plant must treat wastewater to a higher level before discharging into the Chattahoochee River, a state administrative judge ruled last Wednesday.

The Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (UCR), which appealed the original permit, said in a news release today that Judge Kristin Miller issued the ruling on Forsyth County's plan to discharge six million gallons daily from its Fowler/Shakerag Wastewater Reclamation Facility.

In an e-mail to Cumming Patch, Jodi Gardner, spokesperson for Forsyth County stated, "The county has just recently received the judge's ruling and we are in the process of reviewing it. No further comment will be made until such time as the Board of Commissioners has been updated on the matter."

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Judge Miller said that the lowering of water quality is not necessary to accommodate social or economic growth because Forsyth County can treat its wastewater with less pollution at minimal additional cost, the UCR said.

The permit challenged by UCR contained a monthly average discharge limit for fecal coliform bacteria of 200 cfu/100ml and a monthly average discharge limit for total phosphorous of 0.3 mg/l. Judge Miller sent the permit back to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to reissue it with a revised monthly average discharge limits of 0.08 mg/l for total phosphorous and 23 cfu/100 ml for fecal coliform bacteria. 

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