Testing of Flint River water quality in Dougherty County has begun

By David Dixon

[email protected]

ALBANY — Recently the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s Water Protection branch added the section of the Flint River from the Lee County line to the Mitchell County line to the GAEPD Impaired Streams list.

That section of the Flint in Dougherty County  was designated as impaired for mercury in fish tissue in 2022, and in 2024 for the human pathogen indicator bacteria, E. coli.

To meet the requirements of the U.S. Clean Water Act sections 305(b) and 303(d), Georgia assesses a percentage of its waters approximately every two years and publishes the “Water Quality in Georgia” integrated report. This report describes the quality of all the waters in the state and contains a list of waters in good condition and those impaired/polluted along with Fish Consumption Guidelines.

“The Flint River Impaired Stream testing program for unincorporated Dougherty County has begun,” according to Dougherty County Public Works sources. “GAEPD approved our Impaired Waters Monitoring and Implementation Plan on Aug. 25, 2025.

“Dougherty County signed a contract with TTL Inc. to begin the sampling required in our MIP. The samplings will occur at the upstream location at the USMC Canal (Radium Landing) and the downstream location below the discharge point of (Skywater) Creek.”

The first geometric mean (four sets of samples collected within a 30-day period) were taken in December 2025 on Dec. 3, 9, 17 and 29. The samples were sent to Environmental Testing Laboratories Inc. (ETL) in Thomasville for testing.

The next geometric mean is scheduled for a 30-day window in March 2026.

“Beginning at the start of our Fiscal 2027 budget year on July 1, we propose to have TTL begin performing the required sampling (four geometric means) in July 2026, October 2026, January 2027, and April 2027,” Dougherty officials said..”We will submit the first geometric mean testing results from December 2025 with our NPDES MS4 annual report to GAEPD.

“The submittal deadline for the report is Feb. 15. We will submit the report by that deadline.”

Although the results have not been published yet, it is expected that the results will still indicate contamination for the city of Albany’s Combined Sewer Overflow containing raw sewage and the legacy of coal-fired burning plants once located in Dougherty County and Crisp County.

In separate but related activity, Flint Riverkeeper will resume its monitoring of the river for E. coli once the city completes the Combined Sewer Separation project. The city previously announced that the CSS project would be finalized in the autumn of 2025 but has not yet publicly communicated the completion.

Prior to the beginning of the CSS project, Flint Riverkeeper accumulated several years of data demonstrating illegal pollution of the river by the city. In response to discussions with Flint Riverkeeper, the city worked in good faith to avoid a U.S. Clean Water Act lawsuit and establish with GAEPD a new combined-sewer discharge permit that established a five-year construction schedule to separate the storm sewers from the untreated sewage lines.

Flint Riverkeeper’s sampling stations are in the Muckafoonee Dam tailrace, the main river (Albany) dam tailrace, and at each of the stormwater sewer outfalls throughout the downtown reach of the river.