Holcomb Station has 19 groundwater monitoring wells, 6 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between April 06, 2010 and December 07, 2017. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of nitrate, sulfate, arsenic, manganese, selenium and lithium.
Site descriptionSunflower Electric Power Corporation operates Holcomb Station, a 380MW coal fired power plant in Finney County, Kansas. Holcomb came online in 1983. According to Sunflower's website, water to operate the plant is provided by six industrial groundwater water supply wells on Sunflower's property. Sunflower operates eight lined wastewater basins on site and trucks solid coal combustion waste generated at the plant one mile north to the 188-acre Holcomb Common Facilities Industrial Landfill.
Holcomb Station and the Holcomb Common Facilities Industrial Landfill are located above the Ogallala Aquifer, the primary source of drinking, agricultural, and industrial water in the area. Both sites are located over a state-designated sensitive groundwater area consisting of Quaternary Dune Sand.
For more information about Kansas coal ash, see Earthjustice's factsheet, Kansas and Coal Ash Disposal in Ponds and Landfills.