Sewage Failure Leads to Feces in Ringgold Pond
A NewsChannel 9 investigation has uncovered harmful levels of fecal bacteria in a sewage oxidation pond in Ringgold.
After complaints from neighbors, NewsChannel 9 took three water samples over two days from the pond, which is situated in the Morris Estates subdivison off Wooten Road in north Catoosa County. Analysis of those samples found e. coli bacteria levels dozens of times higher than the level necessary to close public beaches.
"You've got major contaminaion there," said Lewis Cain with Technical Laboratories, Incorporated.
The pond is part of a sewage system approved by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and is designed to contain and treat waste from 250 homes in Morris Estates, but NewsChannel 9 found evidence that contaminated water from the pond is flowing directly into the South Chickamauga Creek.
Neighbors say children from the subdivision regularly play in the creek. "See the concrete blocks down there? That's where the kids put their fishing poles in and prop them up," said Phil Spencer, who lives in Morris Estates.
After NewsChannel 9 began its investigation, work crews from the city of Ringgold rushed to clean up around the pond, and the city contacted the Georgia EPD to report a possible discharge violation. The city issued a press release saying it had obtained its own samples for testing and would address any permit violations at the pond.
Ringgold city manager Dan Wright refused to discuss the pond in an on-camera interview, but residents of Morris Estates were eager to tell their story. They tell NewsChannel 9 they have tried repeatedly to get Ringgold to address sewage problems at the pond.
Spencer says he has called the city 4 or 5 times. "The times I talked to the city manager and the times I talked to the mayor, they acted like I was the bad guy," said Spencer.
