Cobb County distributed the following announcement regarding a wastewater spill into Lake Allatoona that occurred yesterday:
Notice of spill from the Cobb County Water System’s Northwest Water Reclamation Facility
Marietta, GA — On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, Cobb County Water System’s (CCWS) Northwest Water Reclamation Facility released treated wastewater that did not fully meet the facility’s standards.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) classifies the release of wastewater that doesn’t meet applicable standards as a “spill.” This designation was determined by CCWS on Thursday, June 27, 2024, after receiving routine compliance sampling results. CCWS operations staff are investigating the cause and working to ensure that the plant is operating normally. The effluent flow from the facility into Lake Allatoona was 3.85 million gallons on June 26, 2024. The effluent was disinfected and will not impact drinking water supplies.
CCWS employees followed EPD protocols by promptly reporting the sampling results and are beginning water quality testing upstream and downstream of the effluent discharge location in Lake Allatoona.
About the Northwest Water Reclamation Center
The Cobb County Water System’s Northwest Water Reclamation Center is located at 3740 Highway 293 in Kennesaw, in the northwest corner of the county near Proctor Creek.
It treats from the northwest quadrant of unincorporated Cobb County; the cities of Acworth and Kennesaw; and portions of Bartow, Cherokee, and Paulding counties.
According to the Cobb County Water System web page for the Northwest Water Reclamation Center:
The facility reclaims wastewater, producing reuse-quality water that is either discharged to Lake Allatoona through an underwater diffuser or provided to several urban reuse customers for irrigation purposes.
Originally built in 1987, the plant was sized to treat 2 million gallons per day (mgd), then upsized to 4 mgd in 1988. In 1997, the plant capacity was doubled, to a capacity of 8 mgd. The facility was again expanded in 2008, with an expanded capacity of 12 mgd.
