“An environmental issue that recently captured national attention long has been a focus of local concern.
Recent news reports based on emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act disclosed that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry was preparing to publish a study on perfluorinated compounds that indicates the chemicals are dangerous at levels well below those that have been deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency…
The news reports have triggered political pressure to release the ATSDR report, including an amendment recently to the National Defense Authorization Bill filed by several Democratic senators…
Local attention was first focused on the chemicals in 2008. Decatur Utilities had for years disposed of sludge from its wastewater treatment plant on area farms, most in Lawrence County. Farmers requested the sludge because it acted as a fertilizer. Testing in 2008, however, revealed extremely high levels of PFAS in the sludge, and subsequent testing revealed the chemical was entering groundwater and the river. DU and contractor Synagro discontinued the practice in 2009.
Since then, sludge from the wastewater treatment plant has been disposed of at the Morgan County Regional Landfill.
This has proved problematic, as PFAS-contaminated leachate from the Morgan County landfill is piped to the wastewater treatment plant, which is not capable of removing the chemicals. The treatment plant also receives leachate with high PFAS levels from BFI’s Morris Farms Landfill in Hillsboro. Thus PFAS continue to enter the river through the wastewater treatment plant, as well as through groundwater contaminated by old industrial dumps…
Hoffman examined several methods of removing the chemicals from leachate, focusing on filtration using powdered activated carbon. While this method is effective, she wrote, it produces large amounts of contaminated waste ‘which, if landfilled, would present an ongoing PFC source within the landfill.’
In a nutshell, this is a problem with all efforts to remove PFCs. It is expensive to filter out the chemical, and the chemical’s apparent toxicity at even extremely low concentrations means there is no simple way to dispose of the contaminated residue…
‘It is absolutely vital to protect the public health of all the citizens of our region at any cost,’ Whiteside said last week. ‘Tennessee Riverkeeper demands that this PFC pollution in Wheeler Reservoir be remediated and cleaned up in the most effective way possible.’
Decatur Utilities drinking water is taken from the Tennessee River several miles upstream from the Decatur industrial corridor that accounts for most of the local PFOA and PFOS contamination. A test of DU drinking water last year showed no detectable levels of PFOA or PFOS.
West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority is 16 miles downstream of Decatur’s industrial corridor, and it has struggled to remove the chemicals. The authority borrowed $4 million to install a temporary activated carbon filtration system last year, and it has spent $300,000 in 18 months to replace the spent carbon…
Numerous lawsuits have been filed against 3M, Daikin and Dyneon, as well as against the city of Decatur and West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority.”
Read the full article by Eric Fleischauer