MEMPHIS, Tenn — ABC24 news has learned human error caused a diesel fuel spill that made Germantown’s water supply unsafe for drinking for at least a week, according to the city's mayor. Now a technician with the City of Germantown is on administrative leave.
Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo told ABC24 anchor Richard Ransom the worker was filling a generator tank with diesel fuel so it could keep providing power to the city's water treatment facility, but for some reason, the technician didn't notice the tank had filled up and was spilling dozens of gallons of fuel before cutting off the supply.
He said the diesel drained down a slope, contaminating dirt above the source to a major storage tank.
The unnamed employee was a 'tenured' worker with the city, according to Palazzolo. It will take an investigation to determine if further action will be taken and perhaps explain why the employee failed to do anything when the fuel started spilling.
“Now much of this is still under investigation, but we can tell you a worker was here and was refilling the diesel tank below to keep the generator operating to provide power to the water treatment plant. At some point it overflowed and overflowed by a lot. By at least 100 gallons. It may be more… again, it's under investigation,” said Palazzolo. “The diesel fuel seeped into these massive tanks that hold some 4 million gallons of drinking water."
Palazzolo said the dirt has now been removed and the ground re-sodded.
Palazzolo apologized for what happened and promises steps are being taken so it won't happen again.
ABC24’s Richard Ransom is the only Memphis TV reporter who sat down with the mayor and will have more exclusive information about how the crisis played out and why the mayor is apologizing to the city for what happened.
Germantown has set a town hall to discuss the water crisis on Thursday, Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. Learn how to submit questions HERE.