After Lynesia Denson heard on the news that thousands of gallons of jet fuel spilled into the Flint River, a body of water that flows through her community and at times provides some of their drinking water, she said she wasn’t shocked.
“It’s really disappointing, but not surprising, that industry at the headwaters continues to pollute the river,” Denson said. “That’s been the case for some time.”
An Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson told Capital B Atlanta that the spill occurred on Jan. 30 at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after a fuel pit hydrant attached to a fuel system pipeline released jet fuel into the airport stormwater system and into the Flint River. A report from 11 Alive News said the incident was caused by a “malfunction.”
Although it was initially reported that about 10,000 gallons of fuel entered the river, an EPA spokesperson told Capital B Atlanta that around 15,000 gallons of jet fuel had been recovered from the river as of Feb. 11. The exact number of gallons has yet to be determined.
As of now, the spill is almost 12 times larger than the last major jet fuel incident in 2021.
The spill has reignited environmental justice concerns in south metro Atlanta, where predominantly Black communities surround the airport and line the Flint River as it flows through counties like Clayton, Fayette, and Spalding.
Residents and advocates say repeated pollution incidents disproportionately burden Black communities that already face environmental and public health challenges, while government transparency and accountability remain inconsistent.
The Flint River supplies drinking water for more than 400,000 people in south metro Atlanta and central Georgia, according to the University of Georgia.
Denson, a Georgia State University graduate student and longtime Clayton County resident, said she first learned about environmental threats to the Flint River through her work with the Atlanta Watershed Learning Network, a nonprofit organization that provides education and advocacy training to Atlanta residents to help protect local waterways.
In that role, she became aware that fuel and chemical discharges from airport operations have reached the river before.
“I hate that that’s just the circumstance of our river at the headwaters,” she said. “And what that means for people downstream.”
A pattern of pollution near the airport
Environmental advocates say the spill is part of a longer history of pollution tied to airport operations.
Gordon Rogers, executive director of the Flint Riverkeeper, said the organization documented visual and olfactory evidence of contamination at least 10 miles downstream and collected water samples as far as 65 miles from the spill site.
“We’ve seen abundant physical evidence of contamination,” Rogers said. “And we’re still waiting on lab results.”
Rogers said the organization is testing for jet fuel and de-icing fluid after residents in Griffin reported fuel-like odors in their tap water.
The EPA spokesperson told Capital B Atlanta that no other chemicals besides jet fuel were included in the spill and that, aside from Griffin, no other drinking water facilities notified the EPA of issues related to the spill.
While cleanup crews were deployed near the spill’s origin, Rogers said there appeared to be little to no cleanup activity downstream of the Forest Parkway bridge.
“As far as we can tell, there are no cleanup efforts below that point,” he said.
The EPA spokesperson told Capital B Atlanta that Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division is providing oversight to clean up efforts. Georgia EPD did not immediately respond to Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment.
The spill is particularly concerning, Rogers said, because the Flint River is relatively small near its headwaters.
“Ten thousand gallons of fuel in a small system like this is a very big deal,” he said. “Fuel floats. It travels for miles. It takes much longer to break down than sewage.”
A Hartsfield-Jackson spokesperson told Capital B Atlanta that the airport is prioritizing “full regulatory compliance” with cleanup and remediation efforts and that they are committed to “environmental stewardship.”
Community concern spreads downstream
Clayton County officials told Capital B Atlanta that their drinking water was not impacted by the spill and that intake from the Flint River has been shut off.
“All pump stations that were connected to the Flint River were cut off as a precaution and won’t be turned back on until the Flint River cleanup is complete and we have tested the water to ensure it is in compliance,” said a Clayton County Water Authority spokesperson.
David Vazquez, Clayton County Emergency Management Agency director, told Capital B Atlanta that they are staying in contact with airport officials, Atlanta-Fulton County EMA, and Georgia EPD to ensure that a “speedy” cleanup effort is taking place.
While the county released a statement on its website about the spill on Jan. 30, residents said they feel communication from their officials has been limited.
“You really have to search things out,” Denson said. “A lot of people didn’t hear anything unless they went looking.”
Michelle Dawkins, a Clayton County resident and environmental health and safety trainer, said she was alarmed when she learned the spill involved jet fuel, a hazardous substance that contains known carcinogens.
“That’s not something you can boil away,” Dawkins said. “If people are still smelling it, that means vapors are still present, and that’s a major concern.”
Dawkins noted that similar incidents have occurred before.
“Good communication during an environmental incident protects public health just as much as cleanup,” she said. “And we haven’t seen that.”
In Fayette County, where the Flint River also runs and serves as a potential water source, residents say the spill is concerning, even if officials say the river is not currently being used for drinking water.
For Pamela Johnson, a Fayette County resident, the spill is personal.
“When I put on my resident hat — my parenting hat — nobody wants to have problems with their drinking water,” Johnson said. “Water is necessary. It’s like blood.”
Johnson spent more than 30 years working in water treatment, most recently as a laboratory manager with the Fayette County Water System before retiring in 2021. Now, she experiences incidents like this not as a professional responding behind the scenes, but as a community member wondering what it means for her family.
She said that while she has confidence in the county to properly treat the water if contamination is found, these spills come with real costs.
“It is a big deal. … It’s extra work on those systems that we use in the treatment plants to help eradicate some of this stuff. It’s always a cost to everything, even the manpower to check to make sure that everything is OK. So everything has a cost associated with it.”
A Fayette County spokesperson told Capital B Atlanta that the county’s drinking water was not impacted from the spill as the pump that’s connected to the Flint River was already shut off at the time of the spill due to the “extreme cold weather” in January. They said the pump remains shut off.
The spokesperson added that Fayette County has not conducted any cleanup efforts on portions of the river that cross through the county and could not provide any information about cleanup efforts the state is taking in Fayette County.
Residents and advocates say they are continuing to push for accountability from the airport and local and federal entities to bring the ongoing pollution to an end.
“These incidents most often happen in communities of color,” Dawkins said. “And they add to an already heavy burden.”
Rogers said Flint Riverkeeper has worked with the airport for more than a decade to address recurring discharges and is now evaluating potential legal action.
The EPA declined to comment on what enforcement will be taken against the city of Atlanta and the airport in response to the spill.
Despite frustration and fear, residents say the Flint River remains deeply important to the communities it flows through.
“I love the Flint,” Denson said. “It’s worth fighting for.”
As investigations continue and environmental groups await test results, Rogers said concern is spreading throughout the watershed.
“People are outraged,” he said. “They care about this river — all of it.”
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