Dawson Daylight

Waterscape Utility LLC submitted a “Revised Sludge Management Plan for the Hampton Creek Waste Water Refuge Facility” and the request for a permit to dump 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of Class B sewer sludge annually over the surface of 60 acres of land near the intersection of Harry Sosebee Rd and Lumpkin Campground Rd HAS BEEN FILED with the EPD.

This permit would also include a 30,000 gallon storage tank to hold the sludge if the ground is too wet to receive it directly. This sludge is not dry nor is it composted, it contains active human germs (from human waste) such as Hepatitis A, Salmonella, E-coli etc. and it smells, particularly when wet and will be carried to the site in trucks using Dawson County roads. Groundwater and well contamination, respiratory diseases and death are only some of the documented occurrences following similar dumping elsewhere in GA; however, all were dismissed as lacking conclusive evidence by the EPD. There are many homes and subdivisions in close proximity to this proposed dump site, the Premium Outlet Mall (the County’s prime revenue source) is less than a mile away and the streams on this property flow down to the Etowah past Black’s Mill Elementary, as well as the two Riverview schools and into the Etowah River by the new sports fields, canoe put-in and Rock Creek Park.

Current EPD and State regulations may permit this dumping unless it can be proven to fall short of EPD standards! Members of the Dawson County Board of Commissioners are opposed to this permit. No one in our county wants this dumping, least of all in our most populated corridor!

The EPD’s environmental engineer who has been handling this documentation since January 5 is Mr. Benoit Causse. According to Causse, once the permit is "open," the EPD will advertise a public notice on its website and in local newspapers. At that point, the clock starts ticking and the public has 30 days to comment. However, comments may be emailed in advance to epdcomments@dnr.state.ga.us, but don't stop there. Keep sending comments once the notice is placed.

I believe Dawson County taxpayers should also immediately contact their State representatives. Protest this surface dumping of sewer sludge that risks our health our safety and our local economy. A massive public “stink” may encourage the EPD to deny this permit. There are no local ordinances in place to stop further permits being applied for in the future, making Dawson County vulnerable to become the Grand Poop capital of GA!