Spills in Georgia

Purpose

EPD receives spill reports on a daily basis and posts a  detailed report  on the EPD website showing reported spills during the previous 30 days. This report is updated each business day. The map below displays this data in a visual format to provide additional context and transparency around the location, frequency, and magnitude of spills occurring during the previous 30-day period.

What is a Spill?

Section  391-3-6-.05  of the Georgia Rules for Water Quality Control defines a "spill" as any discharge of raw sewage by a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) to the waters of the State and identifies "major spills" as those that discharge greater than 10,000 gallons of raw sewage or result in water quality violations in waters of the State.

What Causes Spills?

Spills of raw sewage from sanitary sewer systems can be caused by a variety of factors, depending on the characteristics of the system. Some sanitary sewer pipes operate under gravity while others operate under pressure generated by pump stations. Causes of spills may include contractor activities, debris, equipment failure, grease, operator error, pipe failure, power failure, rags, roots, or wet weather.

What are Georgia's Requirements for Spills?

In accordance with the  Georgia Rules for Water Quality Control , entities must report the unpermitted discharge of any toxic or taste and color producing substance, any other substance which would endanger downstream users of the waters of the State, or any substance that would damage property to EPD. Unpermitted discharge is a broad term encompassing a range of substances, including raw sewage. This reporting involves immediate notification upon becoming aware of the occurrence and submission of a written report within 5 days of the event providing additional details. Section 391-3-6-.05 of the Rules also provides additional requirements for responsible parties to implement when a major spill occurs, including stream monitoring, downstream entity notification, and communication of the major spill occurrence with the public.

Recent Reported Spills in Georgia

The interactive map below displays all reported spills of raw sewage during the previous 30-day period and is updated weekly. Note that a volume of "0" indicates that this value has not yet been received. This map also displays Georgia's river basins.