Coal ash ponds at Dominion Virginia Power stations in Bremo Bluff and Chesterfield County are among 21 facilities in five states leaching contaminants into surrounding water, in some cases in excess of federal standards for drinking water and aquatic life, according to a report by Duke University scientists published Friday in a scientific journal.
“The magnitude is different for various reasons, but the evidence for leaking was everywhere,” said Avner Vengosh, a professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
Vengosh’s team took 39 samples from surface water and seeps from berms ringing the unlined ponds at seven sites in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia. The scientists also examined water chemistry data that had been compiled by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality from 156 shallow groundwater monitoring wells near coal ash ponds at 14 power stations in that state.
