Oconee County Commissioners Have Known Since First Of The Year Of Serious Problems At County's Sewer Plants

Oconee County commissioners have known since at least the first of the year that the county has very serious problems with the operation of its two sewage treatment plants, but they waited until last week to give a hint to the general public of the problems the county is facing.

At the regular meeting of the Board last week, Chairman Melvin Davis said the county “had been made aware of an issue” at the Calls Creek plant a month earlier, but the Georgia Environment Protection Division told the county on Dec. 16, 2014, of a “serious violation” of its permit at the Calls Creek plant and permit violations at its Rocky Branch plant as well.

The silence on the issue was maintained at the meeting of the commissioners Tuesday night, when not a word was said about the ongoing crisis surrounding the county’s Utility Department, which operates the county’s two sewage plants.

That was true even though the county announced on Monday another sewage spill, following announcement on Friday of two spills that day.

Davis, County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko, Board of Education Member Mark Thomas and Blake Giles, editor of The Oconee Enterprise, had met earlier in the day to discuss the sewer system problems. No members of the public were invited to that session.

Mark Thomas was the one who presented Davis with videos and pictures of pollution of Calls Creek downstream from the county’s treatment plant, forcing Davis’ public acknowledgment of the “issue” on May 26.

For more on this complicated story, with the very disturbing videos and pictures Mark Thomas presented to Chairman Davis, go to Oconee County Observations.

Shown: One of the pictures Mark Thomas submitted to make his case for pollution in Calls Creek.