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Resident raises concerns over sewer overflows and water taste; city staff outline reporting and infrastructure work
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Summary
A resident urged more transparency and infrastructure investment after multiple sanitary sewer overflows and reported water taste/odor. City Water Resource Management Director Eric Carson explained SSO reporting, rehabilitation efforts and regional causes for taste/odor tied to drought and algae blooms.
Auburn resident Robert Wilkins told the City Council on April 21 that recent sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and reports of sewage-like taste and odor in tap water have left residents concerned and demanding transparency about infrastructure performance and public spending.
"We deserve full transparency on whether there is any connection," Wilkins said, listing SSO incidents on March 9 (near 101 Carter Street), March 18 (wooded area beside 604 South Dean Road), April 10 (near 344 Bowden Drive) and April 15 (median of West Magnolia Avenue). He said the city's system has grown since early plants were built and that residents are paying "premium rates for a system that keeps overflowing." He also criticized what he characterized as large corporate incentives and urged a citizen-majority task force and clearer public records access.
City staff responded that the city reports SSOs by fiscal year on its website and that Auburn reports every incident it knows about, whether small or large. Eric Carson, Water Resource Management Director, outlined the city's ongoing sanitary sewer evaluation studies (SSES), annual prioritization of basins for rehabilitation, and recent rehabilitation of specific outfall basins.
Carson said the number of SSOs typically ranges between 10 and 15 per year and that many incidents are caused by blockages (roots, grease, construction debris) or isolated collapses rather than broad system-capacity failures. He said the city has completed hydraulic models for north- and south-side basins and has a moratorium in some areas while addressing capacity where needed.
On taste and odor, Carson said Auburn buys treated water from Opelika, which draws from Saugahatchee Lake and Lake Harding. He said algae and nutrient issues developed there over the past decade and that Opelika is designing a carbon contact treatment system with a construction timeline that could begin design work in 2028 and reach operation around 2030–2031. Carson also tied recent taste-and-odor problems to an extended drought and lake-level management, noting a cumulative rainfall deficit of about 31 inches over 16 months at local gauges.
City Manager (Ms. Crouch) and council members emphasized the legal and operational separation between potable water and sewer systems and rejected suggestions that potable water and sewer flows were being mixed. "If it did, it would be reported," the city manager said, calling claims that the systems were being mixed "preposterous and flat out offensive to the staff who are professional." City staff said they would provide the council with a water-board memo and would bring a drought-phase recommendation to the water board and council if adopted.
Council members and staff noted ongoing actions: SSES rehabilitation projects, traffic on moratoriums for some basins, continued coordination with Opelika on treatment improvements, and a forthcoming water-board recommendation likely to implement a phase 2 drought restriction effective May 1 (if adopted) that would include irrigation limitations and higher fees for high users.
The exchange left technical details on planning and long-term infrastructure investments in the record; Wilkins' broader policy criticisms about incentives and governance were rebutted by council members and staff during the meeting.
