‘Clear violation of Clean Water Act’: Mountain of mulch catches fire near river, releasing chemicals and killing wildlife

A three-story-high pile of mulch spontaneously caught fire on Sept. 5 and had been continuously ablaze until at least Sept. 9, according to a press release from the South River Watershed Alliance. The fire has since been reduced and is being monitored by the Atlanta Fire Department.

The mulch pile was believed to be fertilized, and when burned released chemical runoff into the South River which has already been documented to have killed wildlife. The mulch sat on a tributary of the South River.

Margaret Spalding, executive director of the South River Watershed Alliance (SRWA), described  the event as a disaster. 

“It’s hard to measure fish kill, but if you’re seeing crustaceans like crawfish die, you know that macroinvertebrates have died too,” Spalding said, adding that recent lack of rain has kept the water level low, so the contaminated waters won’t be moving much. “This part of the river is going to be an aquatic desert for a while.”

SWRA became aware of the situation through their water quality monitoring program in partnership with Georgia State University. 

“Our interns were collecting samples on the river late Friday night, and noticed that the river was running black — like full black, murky, solid, smoky water,” Spalding said. “So from that we trekked upstream to try and find it and it wasn’t hard to find.”

It is believed that the contaminated runoff filled with fertilizer chemicals deoxygenated the water, bringing dissolved oxygen levels below 2 mg/L over 3.5 miles downstream of the blaze. Sarah Ledford, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State University, called dissolved oxygen levels beneath this threshold a near “guaranteed fish kill.”

Additionally, water downstream of the affected region is reported to have produced conditions that have allowed E. coli levels to rise sharply — which served as the preliminary indicator that the mulch pile was fertilized — though that information has yet to be verified. Samples taken in the affected water region saw levels at E. coli at over 241,980 MPN/100 mL, according to Dr. Ledford in the press release, which are unusually high without the presence of chemicals like fertilizers to inhibit bacterial growth.

Already, SWRA has documented various aquatic life like fish and crustaceans, some as far as six miles downstream of the fire site, that have been killed.

Lack of much rain in South Atlanta over the last several weeks also means that water levels are already low as it is, which potentially exacerbates the problem.

“It is more devastating than usual, because the water level is already low due to lack of rain, so it basically flooded the river with massive amounts of contaminated water that overpowered the water in the river itself,” Spalding said, “Yes, it will eventually flush downstream and become more diluted, but we know now that it has killed aquatic life, at minimum of six river miles or so from that site.”

The parcels with the mountain of mulch appear to be owned by Abebe Ventures, LLC. No results are returned with the EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online database for an industrial stormwater permit, which is needed for industrial sites, said Spalding. A Georgia EPD spokesperson later confirmed that the site does not have coverage under this permit.

“All of this was preventable; that use of that land was not permitted, so it’s a violation of code,” Spalding said. “We’re encouraging the district EPD to open an investigation of this, because it’s a code violation at the city level; the city is pretty lax about enforcing anything in South Atlanta, especially along the South River corridor.”

Her comments seemed to echo those of Dr. Ledford, who expressed similar frustration with the lack of oversight and accountability as quoted in the press release.

“Such a facility should never have been allowed in the City and this devastation was entirely preventable,” said Ledford. “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.”

Perhaps one of the most upsetting signs is that, had the intern not caught the anomalies while testing, it’s likely that the event could have flown under the radar, said Spalding.

“It’s likely that the connection between this fire and this massive contamination and [aquatic] death on the river would not have been caught at all — which is sad,” Spalding said. “This kind of stuff takes place on the South River all the time… the river is hammered all the time with industrial waste and sewage.”

Spalding pointed to the example of the Tift Site, designated as a Class I hazardous waste site at the headwater of the river in East Point, where a variety of contaminants leach into the river waters and groundwaters, including lead. After 30 years of being designated as a Class I site, Georgia EPD is only now advancing remediation efforts.

Still, she’s grateful that SWRA’s water monitoring system was able to catch this so that corrective action and accountability could be sought.

Author’s Note: Ownership of the parcels and the mulch itself is unclear at this time. Saporta Report has reached out to the alleged owner and the Georgia EPD, who informed us that the investigation is ongoing. Saporta Report will update accordingly when more information is available.