How Coal Ash Ponds Threaten Water Utilities
Coal-fired power plants produce tens of millions of tons of toxic ash each and every year as a byproduct of their electric generation operations, and much of this waste ends up mixed with water and deposited in unlined pits called coal ash ponds. Unfortunately, coal ash ponds have the potential to contaminate the local water supply with nasty materials like mercury, arsenic and lead, and as such represent yet another risk that water utilities must account for in emergency plans.
Why Coal Ash Ponds are Problematic
Most of these ponds are located next to larger bodies of water like rivers, which means that the contents could overflow into these nearby bodies of water, or even leach into groundwater sources, potentially contaminating the water supply. And according to a new report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group, a whopping 36% of coal ash ponds in the U.S. are located within flood zones.
This means that severe weather events such as hurricanes could not only knock out the power, but could essentially poison the water supply as well, making the overall restoration & recovery process even more problematic than it would be otherwise for utilities in all sectors.
Unfortunately, because regulations around coal ash ponds are becoming more lenient at the hands of the Trump administration, the only solution for water suppliers at this time is to make sure a widespread water contamination scenario is covered within emergency plans, exercises and drills.
Eventually, a disaster like the 2008 spill in Tennessee that dumped 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash into the Emory River will happen again and will prompt a re-tightening of regulations, but for now, the only thing water utilities can do regarding coal ash ponds is to maximize their preparedness for such an event.
