While efforts are underway to halt Dominion’s plan to treat the toxic water and release it into the waterway, the state’s largest utility continues to drain storm water at the site.
It is also moving forward with plans to treat toxic water and release it into the Potomac River. On Jan. 14, 2016, Dominion won approval from Virginia’s Water Control Board to consolidate water and ash from five coal ash ponds at the Possum Point Power Station near Dumfries and Quantico, treat the water, and release it into the Potomac River.
Dominion release follows permit rules
In Spring 2015, Dominion released about 27 million gallons of water from Coal Ash Pond E into a tributary of the Quantico Creek. The water was storm runoff that accumulated in the pond, which Dominion calls surface water.
The release of water is allowed by a permit issued by Virginia DEQ in 2013. Dominion has consistently released surface water from these ponds into Quantico Creek, under permit, since the facility opened in 1948, said Dominion spokesman Dan Genest.
“We stopped draining at 27 million gallons because we didn’t want to reach the waters at the bottom that mix with the coal ash,” said Genest.
Per the permit, Dominion and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality [DEQ] Northern Virginia district chief Thomas Faha told Potomac Local the utility has never been limited as to how much water could be released from the ponds into the waterway.
Dominion is limited on how many particulates appear in the water after testing. If particulate levels are too high, the surface water inside the ponds must be treated before it’s released into Quantico Creek.
Under the new permit approved last month, Dominion is now only allowed to discharge 2.88 million gallons of treated water per day into the tributaries
Pumping from E to D
Genest said the utility is currently pumping water from Pond E into a larger adjacent Pond D. From there the water will be treated and released into Quantico Creek by order of the Virginia Water Board.
Eventually, all water in Pond D will be treated and discharged into the Potomac River. The leftover coal ash will be left in place, and the pond capped with a protective liner similarly used to cap and close a landfill.
Dominion soon plans to submit full details to DEQ on what filtering system it will use, and how the filtering process will be handled, said Genest. When on file at DEQ, the plans will become public record, he added.
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors said it will sue Dominion over the treat and release plan. The environmentalist group Potomac River Keeper Network has also sought an injunction and is appealing Water Board’s decision in an effort to halt Dominion’s efforts at Possum Point.
