Press Releases
RM Clayton Water Reclamation Center Improvements Lead to Meeting All EPD Wastewater Discharge Standards
Mayor’s Office of Communications
55 Trinity Avenue, Suite 2500 • Atlanta, Georgia 30303
RM Clayton Water Reclamation Center Improvements Lead to Meeting All EPD Wastewater Discharge Standards
ATLANTA—The City of Atlanta has received the lawsuit from the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and its currently in review. We have met with the Riverkeeper several times, provided a tour, exchanged water samples, and have offered to continue to meet with them as recently as last week.
The City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management (DWM) continues to make enhancements to the RM Clayton Water WRC to maintain compliance with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s (EPD) permit requirements.
The City is conducting scheduled preventative and corrective maintenance on bar screens and drum screens. This will ensure they are fully operational to remove coarse and fine debris from wastewater. All eight primary clarifiers are operational with flow over the weirs, while seven of the 10 secondary clarifiers are fully operational. Currently, there are eight mobile clarifiers to enhance and augment solids removal as part of the wastewater treatment process and will remain onsite until all secondary clarifiers are operational.
The disinfection process has also been enhanced by dosing chlorine before the ultraviolet (UV) disinfection stage. The City has further improved the efficiency and reliability of the chlorination/dechlorination systems. This has resulted in no exceedances of the E. Coli permit limit since March 23, 2024. Moreover, since August 18, 2024, the City has maintained compliance with all other National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements established by Georgia EPD such as carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (cBOD), total suspended solids (TSS), ammonia, phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and dissolved oxygen (DO). The recent improvements have enabled the RM Clayton WRC to consistently discharge treated wastewater into the Chattahoochee River within tolerance levels set by the EPD.
The City has increased staffing and management at RM Clayton WRC. Beautification projects are also underway, including landscaping, signage, pressure washing and painting improvements. Repairs to both Incinerators and Thermo Dryers are complete, and routine scheduled maintenance is performed to ensure full operations.
The EPD and EPA reports indicate improved overall operations at the RM Clayton WRC since the EPD's visit in March 2024, though it recognized some additional repairs are needed consistent with the timing specified in the City’s Corrective Action Plan (submitted to EPD) which will take place over the next several months. These improvements exemplify the City’s commitment to making Atlanta a City Built for the Future and One Safe City.
Stay connected with us on our social media platforms, including Facebook, X, Nextdoor, and Instagram @ATLWatershed.
###
For more information about the City of Atlanta, please visit www.atlantaga.gov or watch City Channel 26. Follow the City of Atlanta on Facebook and Twitter @CityofAtlanta.