BY JUSTINN OVERTON, with Coosa Riverkeeper
Clean water is vital to a healthy lifestyle, good coffee/beer/sweet tea/lemonade, and good times for the many who enjoy swimming, fishing, and boating. But y’all, we have a problem and it’s name is coal ash.
Graphic courtesy of Coosa Riverkeeper
So, what is coal ash?
Coal ash is the toxic waste that remains after coal is burned. It contains contaminants and heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, selenium, chromium, and arsenic. Without proper management and disposal, these contaminants can pollute waterways, ground water, drinking water, and the air and ultimately your ability to swim and fish on that waterway— not to mention the public health effects of the contamination. Coal ash is one of the largest types of industrial waste generated in the U.S. with nearly 140 million tons produced in 2014 alone.
DID YOU KNOW?
Last year, the Alabama Power Company released groundwater monitoring data for the Gaston Steam Plant in Wilsonville to the public for the first time. The disclosures, totaling over 2,500 pages, indicate that both the coal ash pond and the gypsum pond (areas where waste is stored) are leeching into groundwater. Simultaneously, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management announced it would fine Alabama Power $250,000 for this contamination at Gaston. Radioactive compounds in a monitoring well near the Coosa River were consistently between three to four times greater than the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) that is considered safe for drinking water.