Flint Riverkeeper Director looking into contamination

(ALBANY, GA)- For more than a week, Gordon Rogers with Flint Riverkeeper has been assessing a contamination in the river.

One that happened at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta earlier this month.

While far away from Albany, it’s still a cause for concern.

Rogers tells us over the phone ”Does it mean that we’re not looking at that spill up at that airport? We certainly are and we’re looking at spill records for that site.”

In a statement from Hartsfield-Jackson officials, the Flint River contamination happened due to a pump station being overwhelmed earlier in January.

While rogers says the problems dissipate further south, finding a pattern of contamination could have consequences.

“And that’s not only a concern from an economical and ecological standpoint, it’s also a concern from a legal standpoint. Because that’s the way the law addresses a sewer spill is if they become repeating like they used to in Albany,” says Rogers

While Rogers is confident this contamination will be handled, these can definitely still pose a health risk to communities getting water from the Flint.

“When there’s a sewage spill, whether it’s the airport, or Thomaston and the creek, that’s happened recently, or any other entity up that way, it heightens the necessity.”

Rogers says they are looking for patterns of contamination over the last couple of years.