U.S. Water News Online
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Lake Martin, considered to be one of
the cleanest lakes
in Alabama, is being polluted by a local wastewater treatment
plant,
according to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management
(ADEM). The
new report by ADEM confirms what various environmental groups have
been
saying for years.
The state investigation has determined that water and the Sugar
Creek and
Elkahatchee embayments of Lake Martin are receiving excessive levels
of salt
and copper from the Sugar Creek wastewater treatment plant in
Alexander City,
Ala. As a result, ADEM says that swimming in the backwater area of
the lake
could pose a health threat.
The mayor of Alexander City said that changes are being made to
the sewage
treatment plant to improve water quality, and that the city's
principal
industry, the Russell Corp., will begin pretreatment soon. "It's not
that we
weren't aware there were problems," said Alexander City Mayor Ben
Cleveland
. "It's just taking time to fix them." Contamination concerns began
at Lake
Martin some three years back when area residents complained of raw
sewage
floating in the backwaters of the lake.
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