Residents alarmed after Cobb Co. reports large wastewater spill into Allatoona Lake

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — More than a few eyebrows were raised this week when Cobb County released information stating that seven-million gallons of treated wastewater was released into Allatoona Lake.

County officials tell Channel 2′s Michele Newell that the water was treated and sanitized and poses no harm to the public, but residents at one of the lake’s many parks said they want to know how something like that could happen.

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Sherry Boland told Newell that the news took her by surprise.

“It’s still concerning because you don’t ever know what you are dealing with,” Boland said.

The water came from Cobb County’s Northwest Water Reclamation Facility. Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division requires the county to provide notice of the spill because the water did not fully meet the EPD’s discharge standards.

A park visitor who did not want their face shown raised concern about the spill.

“People need to be more cautious and more aware of what’s going on so things like this don’t happen,” the visitor said.

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Cobb County said the investigating the source of the spill and could not find a problem at their water reclamation facility. They said everything there appeared to be functioning properly.

The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority does take some of its water supply from Allatoona Lake. The said the spill poses no threat to their drinking water supply.

County officials told Newell that it was possible that an industrial customer could have dumped something into the sewer system, although they said the could not identify who that could have been.

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Robert Simon said that he believes the county should investigate further.

“If somebody is doing that, they need to be caught,” Simon said.

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