'Unprecedented' Treatment Preps Coal Ash Water For Release Into Environment

A new approach to treating coal ash pond water is making it possible to dump the treated supply back into the environment.

Electric utility Dominion is trying this approach at a facility in Virginia. A new, $35 million operation will pump water and ash from a highly-toxic coal ash pond.

“The treatment system will then remove the coal ash from the water, and then treat the water to meet standards set by Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality,” Potomac Local recently reported.

The treated coal ash water will be released into the James River. Dominion, the largest electric utility in the state, is working to close its coal ash impoundments, according to the Associated Press.

Dominion Environmental Manager Jason Williams called the treatment method “unprecedented.”

“We want to make sure the river is protected, and this system will absolutely protect it,” he said, per the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Energy companies like Dominion have come under increasing pressure to shut their coal ash ponds in recent years.

“Spills in Tennessee and North Carolina prompted the federal government to require the closure of similar ash ponds around the country. Coal ash, the remnant of the coal-burning process, contains toxic materials including arsenic, lead and chromium,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Treating coal ash water is a costly and intensive process.

“Before coal ash impoundments can be sealed, a process called dewatering must be conducted to treat and discharge water that has pooled atop coal ash to depths approaching 10 feet, as well as water saturating the ash,” the AP reported.

The treatment system is made of tanks, pools, pipes, filters, and containers known as Geotubes.

How does it work? Potomac Local provided a breakdown:

1. Water is pumped from a coal ash pond into an aerator. Air is blown into the water to loosen up coal ash particulates in the water.

2. Chemicals are added to the water, including polysaccharides and a coagulant. The chemicals allow the coal ash sediment to bond to form a mass that can be easily removed from the water.

3. Water then flows into a Geotube that separates coal ash sediment from the water and removes them. The water moves on for treatment. The sediment is trapped in one of eight Geotubes, or large bags that will be hauled to a landfill in King George County, Va.

Trucks will haul away about one Geotube bag per week. None of the hazardous materials will be shipped out on rail cars along the railroad that runs in front of Possum Point Power Station.

4. The water flows into sand filters where more coal ash sediment is trapped.

5. The water flows into large tanks where, similar to an in-home water filtration system, media inside the tanks separates the containment from the water.

6. The water is pumped from the large media tank into a 100,000-gallon pool where it is tested each hour.

7. If the water does not meet clean standards, it is pumped back from the pool into a large series of tanks where a process called “weak acid cation exchange” occurs, and the water is treated again. “This serves as our insurance policy,” said Williams.

8. When the water is clean, workers open a valve, and the water flows from the treatment site down a large pipe and out into the Quantico Creek.