Atlanta watershed management responsible for South River fish kill, state says

“ … I can reasonably conclude that the June 27, 2026 fish kill was caused by exposure to an unknown quantity of acidic ferric chloride solution discharged from SRWRC,” investigators John Lee Thompson, a fisheries regional supervisor, and Josh Stafford, a fisheries biologist, wrote in their report.

The incident cost the state roughly $4,750, with investigators valuing the dead fish at $1,470.

Meanwhile, the watershed department disagrees with the state’s findings and maintains its position that the chemical spill did not cause the fish kill.

“DWM continues to believe there is insufficient evidence establishing a definitive causal connection between the incident and the observed fish mortality,” the watershed department said in a statement.

“There is no direct evidence demonstrating that any chemicals reached the South River, and water quality samples collected by DWM following the incident were within normal ranges for iron concentrations,” the statement went on to say.

A citizen reported seeing large amounts of dead fish in the South River near Constitution Lakes Park in DeKalb County on June 27. The following day, WRD staff accessed the South River through the iconic Doll’s Head Trail and found dead fish, including bullhead catfish, cyprinids and mosquito fish, the report said.

Water samples showed changes in water quality that, “are consistent with the release of a strong acidic solution.”

Separately, the city’s watershed management told state environmental officials that on the same day the dead fish were discovered, workers at the South River facility were dealing with an incident involving a reuse water line leak.

That leak allowed ferric chloride to mix with the reuse water and move through the chemical building, according to the DNR report. Even though workers isolated that water line, a “subsequent investigation indicated ferric chloride solution may have migrated from the chemical building into the facility drainage system, with a portion potentially entering the stormwater system,” the report said.

On June 30, SRWRC Manager Vondra McIntyre met with EPD Environmental Compliance Specialist Sam Wright and said a 4-inch reuse water line in the ferric chloride dosing building had ruptured on the same day as the dead fish were discovered, causing the facility’s basement to flood.

Despite efforts to contain the water, the city reported that the chemical-infused water “may have exited the building through cracks and flowed along pavement to a storm drain that discharges to the South River,” the report said. What’s more, she said roughly 2 feet of ferric chloride in each tank was unaccounted for.

The city later determined that roughly 300 gallons of ferric chloride, diluted with reuse water, had flowed into a drainage ditch, the report said.

For its part, DWM said once it discovered a “limited amount of material” may have gotten into one of the South River facility’s six storm drains, workers took steps to contain and neutralize the spill.

DWM collected water quality samples at several locations upstream and downstream of the South River facility. In a July 2 news release, DWM “has determined that the fish kill was not related to the incident at the South River Water Reclamation Center.”

Pollution has plagued the South River for years. A series of creeks from industrialized and heavily populated areas of Atlanta and DeKalb County, the 60-mile river flows through several underserved, majority Black communities around the southwest metro area before emptying into Jackson Lake and the Ocmulgee River.