Tennessee water highly toxic after TVA coal ash spill!

2009-02-04 21:05:29 (GMT) (JusticeNewsFlash.com - Justice News Flash, Top Stories)

Wiki Commons:TVA 1.1 billion coal ash spill leads to toxic water supply

Water quality tests prove positive for arsenic and other deadly toxins if river water. News for Chicago personal injury claims litigators by JusticeNewsFlash.com

Chicago, IL (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–The Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group released a preliminary water sampling report taken at 22 locations from December 30, 2008 through January 4, 2009. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the independent water quality tests reveal highly toxic levels of arsenic, a heavy metal, and other toxins in river water near the catastrophic Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill. The samplings were taken from fresh river water near the 1.1 billion gallon coal ash sludge spill and several miles downstream.

On December 22, 2008, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) released 1.1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge, claiming a water breach, at its Kingston Fossil Plant located approximately 40 miles west of Knoxville. This is the largest, most catastrophic toxic spill on American soil in the history of the United States, according to environmental experts. Federal and state regulators, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.epa.gov, state health agencies and along with officials at TVA, the largest public power company in America, continue to maintain their claims of safe drinking water to homeowners and residents located near the coal ash spill.

Environmentalists with the group and researchers from Duke University claim the preliminary river water data violates both United States drinking water standards and Tennessee’s water quality criteria. Arsenic levels as high as 48 times federal primary drinking water standards were found close to the ash spill and up to 20 times the drinking water criteria 4 to 5 miles downstream. Levels of arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium and copper, violating and exceeding water quality and drinking water standards, were found.

JusticeNewsFlash.com previously reported on the devastating 1.1 billion gallon ash spill which was a byproduct from coal combustion. The toxic sludge was dumped into the Clinch River, in central Tennessee, which is a tributary of the Tennessee River. The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River and is 652 miles long. Long term effects after toxic chemical spills, significantly smaller than the TVA dump, have proven catastrophic to drinking water supplies, fish, wildlife, and residents of contaminated areas. Massive hazardous waste spills usually lead to poisonings from heavy metals like arsenic and mercury. The long-term effects on residents and the environment are usually devastating and have been linked to fatal diseases, like cancer.

News for Chicago personal injury claims litigators by JusticeNewsFlash.com