Utility releases groundwater test results for Plant Scherer

As Georgia Power prepares to close 29 coal ash ponds across the state, groundwater testing is underway.

The company installed wells around each pond, including 25 wells at Plant Scherer in Monroe County.

Wells also are being tested at plants Bowen, Hammond, McIntosh, Wansley and Yates.

Tests look for 19 substances, including arsenic, fluoride, lead and mercury.

EPA regulations require eight rounds of sample testing over the next 18 months, said Aaron Mitchell, Georgia Power’s general manager of environmental affairs.

“We committed early in the process that we will be sharing all our results whether we’re required to or not,” Mitchell said.

The company is not obligated to release results until 2017, Mitchell said.

Samples from Plant Scherer’s 25 wells did not show levels above state standards for 11 regulated substances.

The utility installed 136 wells at a half-dozen coal-fired power plants, and it will dig more at five other plants and begin sampling over the next couple of months.

In the first round of tests, all but four met Georgia’s groundwater standards.

Two wells at Plant Yates near Newnan found levels of beryllium and selenium above Georgia’s groundwater standards.

Arsenic levels were above standards in single well samples at Plant Hammond in Coosa, west of Rome, and Plant McIntosh in Rincon, north of Savannah.

Georgia Power did find the presence of other coal combustion residuals in the groundwater sampling at the six plants, but boron, calcium, chloride, cobalt, lithium, molybdenum, sulfate and total dissolved solids are not included in Georgia groundwater standards, the report noted.

The monitoring will continue for years after the coal ash ponds are closed, which will happen within the next three years.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 7:47 AM with the headline "Utility releases groundwater test results for Plant Scherer."