Duke Study Finds that Problem with Cancer-Causing Chemical Not Limited to Coal Ash
The carcinogen can leak into groundwater from certain kinds of natural rock formations
Researchers at Duke University have discovered that North Carolina's problem with a carcinogen often blamed on power plants is not limited to coal ash.
The scientists have published a study finding that hexavalent chromium—a carcinogen known to many from the Julia Roberts movie Erin Brockovich and one of the toxins at the center of a controversy regarding contaminated water supplies near coal ash pits—can leak into groundwater from certain kinds of naturally-occurring rock formations found throughout the Piedmont, which makes up a large part of central North Carolina. More than 90 percent of the wells sampled by the researchers contained detectable levels of the toxin.
Together with selenium, lead, and arsenic, hexavalent chromium—also known as chromium-6—is one of the toxins that scientists have been most worried about regarding the contamination of local water supplies close to 14 current and former coal-fired power plants. Strife over letting well owners located near coal ash pits regarding whether or not their water was safe to drink, and in particular about the type of health risk posed by hexavalent chromium, lies at the center of an ongoing controversy involving Governor McCrory's administration as well as some of the state's top public health scientists.
The study suggests that coal ash is probably not responsible for depositing the toxin in wells located near those power plants.
"I don't think they should be relieved by this information. This is an indication they have a much bigger problem," stated Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and lead author of the study. "The fact we are evaluating a naturally occurring source doesn't mean we're giving a green light to coal ash."
According to Vengosh, these findings bring up a bigger public health problem in addition to any threats posed by coal ash contamination. He noted that his previous work as well as other research indicates that coal ash was leaking from the sites where it is stored into water supplies, thereby spreading selenium and arsenic into well water.
"The bottom line is that we need to protect the health of North Carolinians from the naturally occurring threat of hexavalent chromium while also protecting them from harmful contaminants, such as arsenic and selenium, which our previous research has shown do derive from leaking coal ash ponds," he said. "The impact of leaking coal ash ponds on water resources is still a major environmental issue."
The findings contradict two major assumptions about hexavalent chromium made prior to the study. For a long time, scientists have assumed that significant levels of the toxin are indications of human activities.
The study, however, shows that the high levels of the chemical found in well water should not necessarily be blamed on coal ash.
"There are still a lot of questions that will need to be scrutinized in the study," said Sam Perkins, the Catawba Riverkeeper. Perkins is one of many environmental advocates who have been pressuring Duke Energy to clean up coal ash sites.
"However, decades of research has concluded that hexavalent chromium 'rarely occurs naturally,'" he added, referring to the EPA's topological profile for chromium-6.
Perkins believes that the discovery of naturally-occurring hexavalent chromium should not lessen the pressure to clean up coal ash from unlined pits located throughout the state.
"The most important thing to remember is that Dr. Vengosh's research has for years identified problems and contamination from unlined coal ash," Perkins said. "A paper from Dr. Vengosh earlier this year concluded unlined coal ash was indeed contaminating groundwater. Duke Energy's own data and engineering reports have confirmed this."
This is not the first time the chemical has been found in nature. As Vengosh noted, studies in both California and Mexico found naturally-occ