Dan River Steam Station has 7 groundwater monitoring wells, 6 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between January 04, 2011 and January 05, 2015. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of manganese and arsenic.
Site descriptionDuke Energy's Dan River Steam Station is a retired coal-fired power plant located on the Dan River in Eden, North Carolina. The wet ash basin on site was constructed in 1956 and was expanded by 1977 into two ponds. The two wet ponds are referred to as the primary pond and secondary pond, both of which were classified as having significant-hazard dams by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A dry ash storage area is located north of the primary and secondary ponds. The plant closed in 2012, but the ash was not removed. In February 2014, one of two stormwater pipes beneath the wet ash ponds failed and released approximately 38,000 tons of ash into the Dan River.
This site is among EPA's list of potential damage cases, indicating that it has potentially polluted groundwater or surface water at levels which threaten human health and the environment. For more information regarding Dan River Steam Station, visit SoutheastCoalAsh.org.