Atlanta Press Releases category interest

This story has been updated.

Atlanta, GA — The South River Watershed Alliance, a local environmental group, says a fertilized mulch fire contaminated a local waterway and killed wildlife in the South River Corridor, which is in Atlanta and DeKalb County.

“A mulch pile believed to contain fertilizer (or animal waste of some kind) and methyl bromide (from pallet wood) among other chemical substances, caught fire on Thursday, Sept. 5, in the neighborhood of Lakewood and the headwaters of the South River,” SRWA said in a press release. “Witnesses reported a blazing ‘mountain of mulch’ approximately three stories high, which has since been dismantled by the Atlanta Fire Department, who continued to fight/monitor the smoldering fire into [Sept. 8].”

The location is less than a mile from South River and sits on a tributary, the press release says. The group says an unknown amount of contaminated runoff from the fire department’s actions went into the tributary, killing off wildlife.

The press release from SRWA says, “Georgia State University Department of Geosciences and the South River Watershed Alliance’s (SRWA) Water Quality Monitoring Team (WQMT) interns, Therese Kelly and Finn Gillette, observed that the South River at Forrest Park Rd was running black. Samples collected were smoky and opaque. This event is now documented to have caused fish and other wildlife to perish up to at least five river miles downstream of the site.”

SRWA says the Environmental Protection Agency database indicates no industrial stormwater permits exist for this site, but they are required for industrial sites.

Messages to Atlanta City Council members seeking comment were not returned. DeKalb County Commissioner Ted Terry’s office said he is troubled by the incident.

“Commissioner Terry is deeply concerned about the rippling effects the mulch fire in the city of Atlanta will have on DeKalb County, the South River Watershed community, and the key ecosystem in and around one of only two urban-origin rivers in the state of Georgia. Pollution does not stop at jurisdiction lines,” a spokesperson for Terry said. “He is advocating for an environmental review, a subsequent investigation to ensure another mulch fire does not happen again, and a plan to mitigate the damage. He is committed to ensuring that the downstream residents in DeKalb County are protected from any short or long-term impact to ongoing environmental injustice.”

Terry also recently introduced resolution to protect the South River Forest “and address decades of environmental neglect in southeast Atlanta and southwest DeKalb County.”

Commissioners approved the resolution.

“This resolution adopts the recommendations of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) ‘Explore South River Forest‘ report and sets in motion a collaborative effort with the City of Atlanta and the ARC to develop a comprehensive master plan for the area,” a press release from Terry’s office says. “The plan will focus on land acquisition, park design, trail construction, reforestation, stream restoration and improvements to the sewer system, all of which are crucial for enhancing the quality of life for residents while preserving our forests, which are a great defense against climate change.”

Dr. Sarah H. Ledford, an Associate Professor at Georgia State University’s Department of Geosciences, said the facility should not have been allowed in the city.

“Such a facility should never have been allowed in the City and this devastation was entirely preventable,” Ledford said in the press release. “The predominately low-income and minority residents of the South River watershed yet again have to bear the burden of the City’s refusal to follow the law and address environmental injustice.”

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