Atlanta
(2012-02-14)
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Peachtree Creek in Atlanta.
Next month when voters go to the polls for Georgia's presidential primary here in Atlanta they'll also vote on renewing a one cent municipal option sales tax.
That would continue to pay for the city's water and sewer upgrades.
WABE's Rose Scott reports on how far Atlanta has come in fixing its sewer system.
There was a time, not long ago when Atlanta's sewer system was downright disgusting.
"Atlanta's sewer system 15 to 20 years ago was third world it was a bacterial laden mess", admits Sally Bethea.
Bethea is the executive director and river keeper with the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.
The city's aged sewers dated back to the 1850s and were obsolete.
According to Bethea, "it was chronic problems with leaks and cracks and every time it rained raw sewage flowed into streams in the north side,the south side,throughout the city and into the Chattahoochee River."
Because of that, Atlanta was forced to overhaul the system.
In the late 90s, the city was sued by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper for failing to comply with the Clean Water Act.
Atlanta negotiated with the EPA to fix the problem.
Now, Bethea says the city has done a tremendous job over the last decade.
Atlanta has spent more than 2-billion dollars on those upgrades and will need the passage of the March 6th municipal option sales tax.
So now a multimedia campaign is underway which includes online youtube videos supporting the one cent sales tax.
That's from a series of YouTube videos supporting the sales tax using real Atlanta residents.
In a statement to WABE, former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, who started the fix, says an improvement to the sewer system benefits all Atlanta residents and its downstream neighbors for years to come.
Officials with the department of watershed say nearly two-thirds of the projects are complete.
© Copyright 2012, WABE
