City Crews Respond to Four Minor Sewage Spills • Savannah, GA

City Crews Respond to Four Minor Sewage Spills

SAVANNAH – City of Savannah staff recently responded to four minor sewage spills, each a result of prolonged heavy rainfall.

On Aug. 2, City staff responded to a sewage spill at 511 Arlington Road the resulted in an estimated sewage discharge of 7,260 gallons. On Aug. 10, staff responded to two sewage spills on Stillwood Drive.  At 12845 Stillwood Dr. a spill caused a discharge of 1,260 gallons of sewage and at 13204 Stillwood Drive a spill caused an estimated discharge of 1,000 gallons of sewage.

Staff responded to a sewage spill at 601 Penn Waller Road on Aug. 11 that resulted in the discharge of an estimated 2,000 gallons of sewage.

State Environmental Protection Division guidelines classify each of these as minor spills, which is a discharge under 10,000 gallons.

All four sewage spills were the result of large volumes of storm water infiltrating the sanitary sewer system following heavy rainfall that overwhelmed the system capacity. Staff are investigating the source of storm water infiltrating into the sanitary system in each case to find and eliminate the entrance point. The discharged sewage in each incident also contained a mix of storm water runoff.

The City is distributing spill notifications via a news release and area signage. All agencies, Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Health Department and the City of Savannah Office of Communications, were notified per state guidelines.