The City of Waycross, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and Satilla Regional Water and Sewer Authority (SRWSA) are investigating alleged illegal sewage dumping into a manhole near Kettle Creek on US 1.
In early November, citizen Dustin Crews noticed a vacuum truck backed up to a manhole at the edge of Kettle Creek. His social media post of the alleged illegal dumping resulted in a local internet uproar.
Crews and his family live less than a mile from the manhole, which is just feet from the Jamestown septic meter. The Kettle Creek Lift Station is adjacent to the former Kirkland Skating Rink, 4485 Jamestown Road.
Crews said Friday, November 8 he often sees septic vacuum trucks backed up to the manhole.
That day, Crews said he again noticed a truck backed up to the manhole. Crews contacted SRWSA Director Will Corbitt and the two confronted the driver, discovering the truck belonged to Sammy’s Septic Service, owned and operated by Ware County Commissioner Sammy Hendricks. The driver did not identify himself, and Hendricks has declined to reveal the driver’s name.
Hendricks arrived at the site and produced an undated letter which he said indicated permission to offload into the manhole.
According to Corbitt, the letter was provided to drivers by SRWSA “so if someone stopped them, it gave them the right information on who to contact about what was going on.”
The letter does not specify a time frame during which the permission is valid.
Crews
In another letter dated November 13, Corbitt stated, “The existing agreement (with Sammy’s Septic Services) is for portable toilet water service truck discharge only. The agreement outlines the Jamestown Lift Station as its offloading point.
“The location was temporarily changed during Hurricane Helene power outages. All offloading was to return to the designated Jamestown Lift Station when the regular power was restored. The truck that was still using the temporary location was doing so in error.”
When asked about the allegations, Hendricks replied in a November 13 phone interview, “My business is a hundred percent legal. We do not dump illegally. We have permission to dump and that’s all I have to say about it.”
In a Monday, November 25 interview Corbitt said, “The offloading wasn’t illegal. It’s still going into the sanitary sewer system. It’s still going into the same pipe. It was just not going in at the location it was supposed to go in.”
“For two-and-a-half to three weeks after power was restored someone was using the manhole when they shouldn’t be.”
Evidence of more than one instance of dumping into the manhole was seen November 13 at the site by a Journal-Herald staff member.
A trail of disintegrated toilet paper led down toward the creek and dozens of discarded rubber gloves littered the undergrowth and the shrubbery. Gloves are supposed to be removed from the site by the drivers, according to Corbitt.
Following Crews’ complaint, Corbitt called the EPD November 12 and asked for an evaluation.
The Coastal District Office of EPD sent a representative, who took pictures, walked both the ditch line and the creek, and tested the creek water. It was deemed safe and up to standards, reported Corbitt.
“There was some paper around the manhole,” said Corbitt. “He (EPD representative) tracked it down through to the creek and there was no residue, nothing entering the waterway. Still, it’s an open report and once they close the report it will come to me and the City of Waycross. Right now, it’s still an open investigation.
“Everything’s been cleaned up. The site was treated with hydrated lime for soil stabilization where the tissue paper was.”
Lift stations are important to the maintenance of the city’s water treatment plant. They provide an additional stage of grinding paper and solid debris, taking pressure off the already stressed sanitation system.
Waycross City Manger Ulysses “Duke” Rayford credited the illegal dumping allegations for creating a necessary wake up call regarding the possible misuse of the city’s sewer system.
In the city commission’s planning and information session November 18, Rayford said, “The contract with Satilla Water is up for review in 2025. I am going to request all trucks go straight to the waste water treament facility versus allowing them to dump at any remote sites. If we do it this way, all trucks will be accounted for. There will be a formal request when we do the contract next year to the commission body.”
Rayford projects the renegotiation will be on a February, 2025 commission meeting agenda. Rayford will also request manhole covers and lift stations be locked.
“Satilla Water is open to modification (of the contract),” he said. “They want to be good partners and be sure there’s no misunderstandings either about how we do business together.”
Both Corbitt and Rayford stated the importance of citizen involvement in keeping the community safe.
“I appreciate the citizen getting involved,” said Rayford, referencing Crews. “I appreciate any citizen who lets us know how to get better. I don’t care what the criticism is as long as we can learn from it and fix the problem. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
Corbitt agrees. “We encourage community policing. You see somebody doing something wrong, we want to know so we can shut it down,” he said. “Anything illegal does not need to take place anywhere in Ware County. The more eyes we have looking out for our community the better off we all are.”
To report suspected illegal offloading or for questions, contact Satilla Regional Water and Sewer Authority from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at (912) 287-4366.
