Contaminated water seeps from old ash pond pipe at Duke plant on Lake Wylie

originally posted on December 22, 2016

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) failed to inspect a pipe at one of its retired coal ash ponds that now appears to be seeping contaminants at the Allen plant on Lake Wylie.

Environmental groups discovered contaminated water seeping from a corrugated steel pipe at Duke Energy’s Allen Steam Station, which the company failed to inspect following the massive Dan River coal-ash spill in 2014.

The pipe runs to a retired ash pond at the 1,140-megawatt coal plant just west of Charlotte. Duke confirms that initial tests of water seeping from the pipe indicate the presence of boron, a heavy-metal Duke considers a marker of possible coal-ash contamination.

‘Obvious’ failure

Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins says the leaking pipe demonstrates Duke cannot be trusted to safely monitor its ash ponds. And he says it could ultimately cause a massive leak similar to what happened at Dan River.

“This pipe is as obvious as it could be — it should have been identified and it should have been inspected,” Perkins says. “It should concern everyone who lives downstream and everyone who drinks water from the downstream end of Lake Wylie.”

His group advocates excavating coal ash from all 14 current and former Duke coal plants in North Carolina and burying it in lined landfills. Duke proposes leaving ash at the Allen plant and capping it to prevent water from seeping in and causing leaks.

‘No threat’

Spokeswoman Paige Sheehan admits Duke should have inspected the pipe after the Dan River spill. The 28-inch pipe runs several hundred feet from a riser in the retired ash pond to Lake Wylie. Though the pipe was not listed in Duke’s records for determining what pipes to inspect, it was listed in other records that show it should have been inspected.

But Sheehan disagrees a threat of a serious spill at the Allen plant exists. Duke says that the abandoned pond no longer contains water, so it does not pose a threat akin to the water-filled pond at Dan River. And she says the pipe was sealed at the riser end to prevent any large amount of coal contamination from leaking

“It was an engineered part of the basin, taken out of service in the 1960s,” she says. “It leads to a dry, long retired ash basin. There is no indication it is affecting the water quality (in Lake Wylie and the Catawba River) at all.”

Dan River Spill

The seepage has been reported to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, says Sheehan, who describes the leak as spilling about a coffee cup-size of water per minute. The lake end of the pipe, she says, is being filled with grout now to cap the leak. Duke and the DEQ will do more work at the site to determine whether additional measures should be taken to seal leaks.

While Duke remains confident that the pipe and small leak present no threat to the environment, it is embarrassing for the company to have failed inspecting the pipe.

In February 2014, a 40-inch corrugated steel stormwater pipe collapsed under the main ash pond at the Dan River Steam station. That accident spewed more than 39,000 tons of coal ash into the river and led to criminal charges against Duke (the company pleaded guilty to 14 misdemeanor counts of violating federal environmental laws) and new state legislation requiring safer storage of coal ash.

In the aftermath of the spill, Duke said it inspected all pipes around and in its ash ponds. But it failed to find this old pipe in its records search during that inspection effort in 2014 and 2015.

December visit

On Dec. 15, Perkins and other representatives from environmental groups were allowed an on-site inspection at the Allen plant under a court order. Perkins says he spotted the leaking pipe after less than 20 minutes on site. He says Duke did not appear aware that the pipe existed.

Perkins’ group and Duke representatives took water samples of the leak, which have since been submitted to Pace Analytics. That’s the group Duke and its opponents have reached an agreement for water sample testing.

Those results have not come back yet, but Duke did test additional samples from the pipe at its own lab. Sheehan says those tests do show boron in the water.

She says Duke considers that a sign the water may be contaminated by coal ash, and therefore reported the seeping water to DEQ.

“We are following the proper procedures and we are addressing the leak,” she says.

In dispute

Water testing on Lake Wylie and in the Catawba River continue to show no environmental damage from coal ash contaminants, Sheehan says.

She disputed Perkins contention that Duke was unaware of the pipe, though she admits to the inspection failure. Duke says that during two semi-annual reviews done in the spring and fall, no water was coming from the pipe.

Sheehan says water has been taken out of the pond and a lined dry-ash landfill has been built on top of it.

Perkins, however, disputes Sheehan’s contention that the retired pond is dry. He says the old pond extends 43 feet below the water line at the Allen plant and much of it is sitting in groundwater.

Learn More

WokeonWater

Contaminated water seeps from old ash pond pipe at Duke plant on Lake Wylie

originally posted on December 22, 2016