The City of Atlanta has asked an outside firm to do an independent investigation into the deaths of thousands of fish in the Chattahoochee River in May.
In a statement, the city’s Department of Watershed Management said it has retained engineering and consulting firm Brown and Caldwell “to conduct an independent evaluation of system operations at the West Area CSO Tunnel Treatment Facility and the associated tunnel operations.”
Officials say the massive storm on May 20 dumped three inches of rain in an hour, leading to stormwater runoff from the city’s sewage system into the river. The runoff and high temperatures caused fish to suffocate, killing thousands of fish over a 20-mile stretch…