Another Sewage Pond Leaves an Impression

Three weeks ago, our cameras discovered raw sewage being dumped directly into the South Chickamauga Creek from a sewage pond in Catoosa County, operated by the City of Ringgold..

The incredible amounts of dangerous e-coli going into the creek were enough to warrant Georgia environmental authorities, to warn everybody to stay away from that part of the creek..

Our investigation has spurred OTHER residents to wonder about the sewage ponds in THEIR backyards, and now we've discovered ANOTHER sewage treatment pond, the state would ALSO like to see closed..

At first glance, the pond looks as pristine as the pond on your grandfather's farm.. ducks enjoying the summer sun, turtles diving for food.. But the Mitchell Acres Sewage Treatment Pond handles all the waste and sewage from the Mitchell Acres Subdivision in Catoosa County. This pond is anything but pristine..

"It leaks quiete frequently," says nearby resident Becky McBryar, "and when it floods, it floods all over the neighborhood."

The pond that sits along the West Chickamauga Creek was built before Becky McBryar moved onto the property beside it.. it's been operated by the city of Fort Oglethorpe since 2002.

Mrs. McBryar remembers the last big flood in 2004, that left sewage from the pond in everybody's yard. Since then, she says, the nearest manhole has problems during heavy rains.. "When it backs up," she says, "there'll be nasty water and toilet tissue around the top of it, and we have to call the city to come out and upstop it."

Mrs. McBryar says she and her neighbors have been promised for years, that the pond would close, and their homes would be tied into the Moccasin Bend Sewage Treatment plant, but nothing's ever been done.

After our investigation into the Morris Estates Subdivision four miles away, Mrs. McBryar called us wondering about the safety of the sewage pond in her backyard. "I saw your article on Morris Estates, and I'm thinking, 'if they're after them, let's after them about this one, too."

As I did with Morris Estates, I reviewed the records on the Mitchell Acres pond.. Seems, it's also has a history of sewage leaks. In 2002, the city agreed in a consent order with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to fix those leaks and the city was fined 3-thousand dollars in penalties..

What we found next, was shocking..

Since 2002, the the city of Fort Oglethorpe has been fined 11 times for leaking too much sewage into the creek.. Each fine was 500 dollars.. Total cost to the city.. 55-hundred dollars.

"We want to eliminate that pond altogether," says Fort Oglethorpe Interim City Manager Ron Goulart, "it's the number one priority of this mayor and council, and was of the former mayor and council, too."

Mr. Goulart says the city has just signed a 96-thousand dollar contract to connect all the homes in Mitchell Acres to Moccasin Bend, through an interceptor pipe on Cloud Springs Road.

Our cameras went along with city administrators to test for e-coli. Upstream, the e-coli count was 132 colonies of e-coli per 100 milliliter container.. downstream, the count was 48 colonies per container.. and at the effluent discharge point, the count was 170..

Compared to the 4-thousand and 8-thousand counts we first got at Morris Estates, these are well below the 230 limit set by the E-P-A.

I asked Mrs. McBryar what she would say if I told her the city has plans to close the Mitchell Acres Sewage Pond and fill it in. "I'd ask for a date," she replied. "I've heard that before."

Mr. Goulart says, that date should be, within the next two years. He says, once the Mitchell Acres Subdivision is tied into Moccasin Bend, the pond will be drained, filled in, with no increase in the sewer rate everybody's paying..

As for Morris Estates in Catoosa County, the city of Ringgold has until July 15th to report a satisfactory e-coli count to the E-P-D, based on its June report that begun with the high sewage spill that we uncovered.

We'll keep following that story, and let you know what we find out..