Almost there: City of Albany closes in on completing $135 million drainage project

ALBANY – After four years and spending more than $130 million, there is light at the end of the tunnel, or more accurately in this case, at the end of the drain pipe, for the city of Albany.

Faced with the Herculean task of achieving the 85% separation of stormwater and sewage flow in its antiquated underground system, the city has two projects that need to be completed by the end of the month.

Contractors are working on both. 

Along the way, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused delays and afterwards resulted in a steep mark-up in prices for materials.

The city also faced pressure from a lawsuit filed by the Flint Riverkeeper and stricter standards.

In the years before that pressure mounted, the city  reported spills into the Flint River of sewage-infused water that totaled in the hundreds of millions of gallons. It also was not unheard for the system to back up into neighborhoods.

The city’s aging combined system had been largely neglected for decades, but stricter new operating permits issued by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division forced the city to capture 85% of combined sewer outflows during heavy rains.

The two permits, for the combined sewer system and the Jefferson Street Water Pollution Control Plant previously required a 70% capture rate. Under new permits issued in October 2020, the city had five years to meet the new requirements.

“We will have our 85% separation, which is what our permit says,” Albany Assistant City Manager Bruce Maples said.”We spent $135 million. Not many people can do that.”

The costs, and time, mounted with the pandemic, as well as logistics and prices on some of the materials that were three times more expensive than pre-COVID.

The city also got a break from the EPD. The original consent order required that the city complete the work by June 30 of this year.

The state could have levied fines of up to $50,000 for each day beyond that deadline.

“They sent us a consent order that stated that you pay a $1,000 fine and you need to comply with the requirements,” Maples said. 

The EPD originally required a deadline of Oct. 31 but granted the extra month.

“They honored our request,” Maples said. “We’re asking the City Commission to accept the consent order, that they pay the $1,000 fine and agree to the revised deadline.”

With that project completed, Flint Riverkeeper can move on to other battles, organization Executive Director and Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers said.

“We’re looking forward to Albany completing the sewer work,” he said. “We’re going to get out and survey and see how we did.”

With the Flint being the second-longest river in the state, the Riverkeeper has other sources of water pollution to address.

“It’s a major landmark,” he said of the Albany effort. “But  it’s not a conclusion for us.”