Ash landfill causes concern
By Tony Bartelme
Near Moncks Corner, in the quiet Whitesville community, SCE&G operates an ash landfill for its Williams generating station.
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Watchdog tested water from Charles and Debbie Billings' well, which is next to SCE&G's ash landfill off 17A near Moncks Corner. Samples came back negative for arsenic.
For years, wells drilled to monitor groundwater around the landfill didn't reveal any pollution problems — until 2004 when engineers put them in places where contamination was more likely to occur.
After that, SCE&G's consultants found arsenic in groundwater flowing into a nearby pond at a rate of 116,000 gallons per day, roughly equivalent to the volume of eight residential swimming pools.
Jean-Claude Younan, head of SCE&G's environmental division, said the power company treats the arsenic in the pond with ferric chloride, which causes the arsenic in the water to fall into the pond's sediment.
That sediment is then periodically excavated and put back into the landfill, he said, adding that arsenic levels in the sediment are low.
In another part of the landfill, water seeps into a ditch behind several homes, including one where Charles Billings and his wife, Debbie, live.
One ditch had water with arsenic levels just below the federal drinking water limit, records from the Department of Health and Environmental Control show.
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It's unclear whether the contamination problem is getting better or worse, although SCE&G said it plans to stop using this landfill and open a newer one nearby off U.S. Highway 52 with a more protective design.
Earlier this year, Billings grew concerned about the landfill and called DHEC to have his well water tested.
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He said DHEC officials gave him a hard time and put him off for months, finally taking samples after Watchdog began asking questions about coal-ash dumps.
He said DHEC recently called him back with good news: No arsenic, lead and mercury were in his water.
Watchdog also sampled water from Billings' well and from two wells nearby, and sent them to a certified lab at the University of North Carolina-Asheville's Environmental Quality Institute.
Tests confirmed that no high levels of arsenic were in the drinking-water wells.
Fortunately for Billings and his neighbors, the area's geology tends to protect deepwater wells.
The landfill sits on a large layer of clay or marl, which acts as a protective cap. But Billings wonders about the pond, which attracts deer and geese. He hears the geese honking and wonders "if we were spreading contaminated goose flesh to Canada."
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eyecantspel (anonymous) says...
Pop Quiz !!!
1. They tested for years and never had a problem, but then moved the tests to where the problems were more likley to occur. The solution to this is:
a. move the test back to where there were no problems
b. stop testing
c. fake the results
d. all of the above
2. The worst thing that could happen according to the article is :
a. "He said DHEC recently called him back with good news: No arsenic, lead and mercury were in his water."
b. "wells drilled to monitor groundwater around the landfill didn't reveal any pollution problems"
c. "One ditch had water with arsenic levels just below the federal drinking water limit"
d. "He hears the geese honking and wonders "if we were spreading contaminated goose flesh to Canada."
3. The P-C is all about coal this year because:
a. lost-cost power is bad for the residents who use power
b. they are jealous of businesses who aren't going bankrupt
c. their business of cutting down trees, making paper out of it, buying ink by the truckload, using trucks to deliver the paper everyday, and then having trucks come and pick up the paper, where it is dumped in a landfill....this is better for the enviroment than coal. They have the moral high ground
d. please... please... someone buy a newspaper!!! Look, you are all going to die from _____ soon!!! Read How!!!
October 28, 2008 at 7:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eyecantspel (anonymous) says...
spanky...
Why are you taking this so seriously? Its mocking everyone i can find, not making political statements.
October 28, 2008 at 8:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eyecantspel (anonymous) says...
I guess I should have picked one the stories about someone getting murdered, maybe something from the o-bit pages. What about the stories that aren't on here that should be?
Like the cement plants which burn coal that are much worse with less oversight? Or the unsolved murders and crimes in general? Or the people who retired in the recent past or in the next 6 months who now have to find other work since their IRA have crashed?
I mock this because it is borderline mockable. The stories today are really non-news. Ill sum them up
"we think they are bad, they probably are, but we dont have any real proof yet. We are opposed, you should be too, but we offer no replacement and your bills will go up. Baseline power will increase in price, which we dont care if it affects your bill by 15%-40%, thats only 1000 a year or so. We also dont care that businesses that flock to our region for CHEAP POWER AND WATER will be p***ed and threaten to leave or make their plant the first to close in a slow economy."
Ill give you a SMALL list of people who came here ONLY for cheap power-water. Nucor, Google, and any other public traded and/or for-profit company.
I dont want to die from polluted ash. I dont. I would think we could work something out other than scaring the **** of people with non-news. I really think this article says nothing. Nothing that could be admited in court, anyway, just in the court of public opinion. Its near slanderous at times.
October 28, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ColdBud (anonymous) says...
Two articles on the terrors of ash? Am I to assume that the P&C does not benefit from electricity? Does the P&C have a better solution, or are they part of the problem. This just sounds like an agenda without an agenda. It's silly. I agree... mockable.
October 28, 2008 at 9:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SpiderJohn (anonymous) says...
Arsenic is our water is not non-news!
October 28, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ColdBud (anonymous) says...
On a side note, they almost got a picture of Debbie Billings' boobies. I'm not sure that's a good thing...
October 28, 2008 at 9:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scfirefly (anonymous) says...
Arsenic in ditch water in a industrial dump is interesting not alarming. Are you really surprised it doesn't meet drinking water standards? If you are confused and you happen to visit this dump, don't drink out of the puddles.
October 28, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SpiderJohn (anonymous) says...
How can people be so stupid? Our soil is the filter for our ground water. If you add arsenic and other heavy metals to the soil your filter is now contaminated. Therefore all the water that filters down to the ground water is contaminated.....now your ground water is contaminated!
It is all a circle of life....we are connected.
We all need clean air, clean water and safe food. These are the things we all hold in common and if just one of these breaks then we parish.
October 28, 2008 at 10:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Chief (anonymous) says...
Spankerbuns~ I'll bet you don't sleep very well at night.
You sure worry,or comment a lot about our government and
state. You have a comment on here everyday and then continue to argue everyone else. Instead of spending your
whole day on the P&C site waiting to see if you can take
someone's comment personal, why don't you get out and get your hands dirty. Do something to help or change the world.
It will help you sleep better.
October 28, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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