Current River Issues

GRN CHALLENGES COSTLY, HARMFUL AND UNNECESSARY LAKE

On behalf of Georgia River Network and American Rivers, the Southern Environmental Law Center has challenged in federal court the flawed basis for the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to permit a $17 million, 960-acre recreational fishing lake in Grady County, Georgia near the Florida state line.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, focuses on a flawed study underlying the permit that overestimates the number of people who would use the lake. The challenge also asserts that the project would destroy over nine miles of streams and could destroy up to 518 acres of valuable wetlands -- significantly more than the 129 acres of wetlands estimated by the Corps. Click here to read the whole story.
 

PANOLA SHOALS: SLIDING ROCKS CLOSED, NO RIVER PLAY ALLOWED

Located in the heart of Dekalb County, the South River’s “Panola Shoals” is a sight to behold. At the intersection of Snapfinger Road and Panola Road, the South River flows from under a bridge and down and over a huge, gently sloping outcrop that is quite possibly the most perfect natural water slide. As a bonus, at the bottom of the shoal the river creates an enormous 2-3 acre sandbar, perfect for picnics and sunbathing. It’s no wonder that when a new parking lot was recently built just a short scramble up the bank from this seemingly splendid playland, members of the community started flocking to the river by the hundreds.

People brought their kids to slide down the rocks, set up barbeques and picnics on the sandbar, and donned bathing suits to splash in the water. But, there was a big problem. For decades, the South River has been plagued with severe pollution problems.

Panola Shoals is downstream from DeKalb County’s Snapfinger wastewater treatment plant and the city of Atlanta’s South River and Intrenchment Creek wastewater treatment plants, and is often referred to as the dirtiest river in Georgia. The water is too polluted for people to safely play and swim in the river, and in fact all 14 miles of the South River that run through DeKalb County are listed as “impaired” by the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) because of fecal coliform and/or PCBs.

Fecal coliform is in the river because the sewage treatment plants and sewers are old and not large enough to deal with the amount of sewage and stormwater that flow into them, meaning they regularly overflow, spilling raw sewage into the river. Playing and swimming in water polluted with sewage can cause illness and infection from bacteria and viruses. The PCBs are a result of historical industrial pollution and can accumulate in fish and other aquatic critters and whatever eats them, including people.

Once local and state officials became aware that hundreds of people were playing in the polluted river, access down to the river was cordoned off with yellow police tape. Signs were posted on the banks saying, “For Your Safety, Access to Waterway is Prohibited. Violators Will be Prosecuted.” To view the rest of this story, click here.