Phenix City is facing two lawsuits, one from the state of Alabama, over allegedly violating the Clean Water Act.
The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the Alabama Department of Environment have both sued the Phenix City utilities department in recent days. Both groups say the city has violated permits because the local wastewater treatment plant has water flowing into the Chattahoochee River at contamination levels higher than the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Alabama allow.
These suits come 60 days after the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper delivered a required notice with the intent to sue on July 16.
“It is time for Phenix City to step up and prioritize infrastructure before further harm is done to the river and those who depend on it,” Jason Ulseth, the director of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, said in a statement. “Recreators throughout the Chattahoochee River Basin deserve the right to swim, paddle, and fish on clean waterways.”
The Clean Water Act and the operation permit by the Alabama Department of Environment, which is the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit, require the plant to remove a certain amount of effluents such as ammonia, suspended solids, and bacteria or E. coli that are harmful to human and environmental health.
“We have not seen any noticeable changes since our notice,” Henry Jacobs, deputy director of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said. “When we had initial conversations with the city with our lawyers there was a willingness to meet and walk through the plant. Then they canceled the treatment center tour and it’s been radio silence since then.”
John Spraggins, utility director of Phenix City, told the Ledger-Enquirer in July he was waiting on parts for their primary clarifier system, which would help lower spikes of total suspended solids. and other pollutants that are in violation of the operating permit.
“Manufacturing of the parts dictates the speed. We’re working with a contractor to get started on the clarifier construction,” Spraggins said in July.
The Ledger-Enquirer asked Spraggins and Phenix City Assistant City Manager, Chan Gamble for an update on the parts and the work over the last 60 days but Gamble said the city will not comment on pending litigation.
In a press release on Monday, Phenix City acknowledged the lawsuit from state of Alabama but said the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper lawsuit was “duplicative and unnecessary.”
“Phenix City is working together with ADEM to modernize our sewer system to continually meet the needs of the growing population in the City’s service area. Our Utilities Department is nearing completion of an approximately $15 million project to upgrade the current wastewater treatment plant and is developing plans to improve the wastewater collection system, some of which was installed close to one hundred years ago.”
The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper was unaware previously that Phenix City was delivered a lawsuit by ADEM three days before they filed on Sept. 16.
The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said in a statement Tuesday it was reviewing the ADEM lawsuit and was committed to holding Phenix City accountable over the alleged water violations.
“The news that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management just filed its own lawsuit against Phenix City further reinforces the fact that it is well past the time for Phenix City to cease its violations of the Clean Water Act and continuing pollution of the Chattahoochee River,” the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said in a statement.
The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said in its lawsuit that it seeks declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, the imposition of civil penalties of up to $66,712 per day for each of the city’s violations of the Clean Water Act.
This number is based on Clean Water Act penalties that would go toward the Federal Treasury not the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.
ADEM is enforcing the violations based on the Alabama Water Pollution Control Act, which authorized the attorney general to recover penalties from violations of $25,000 per violation.
The Phenix City wastewater treatment plant reported effluent violations and E. coli results greater than its permitted amount of 2,419 col/1000ml in the following months: January, 2020, March 2021, April 2022, January 2023, October 2023, November 2023, January 2024, February 2024, March 2024, April 2024, May 2024, June 2024, and July 2024, according to records reported to ADEM by Phenix City.
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said the plant has not properly maintained infrastructure and has had non-permitted discharges of raw sewage in the the form of sanitary sewer overflows.
“The sewage overflows have been regularly occurring since 2021, no fewer than 90 times, discharging 2 million gallons of raw sewage in February 2024 alone,” according to the lawsuit.
Since January 2020, the Chattahooche Riverkeeper found 60 violations of Amomonia, 55 violations of total suspended solids, effluent for carbonaceous biochemical oxygen 21 times, exceeded total suspended solid removal 13 times, and E. coli violations 11 times.
The ADEM previously gave notice to the Phenix City utility department that it was violating a pollution discharge permit on Dec. 19, 2023, according to a copy of the permit provided to the Ledger-Enquirer by Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.
It isn’t clear why ADEM decided to file a lawsuit now. ADEM and the Attorney General’s office of Alabama did not respond to questions in time for publication.
The ADEM lawsuit against Phenix City is available online through the Circuit Court of Russell County.
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
