Utility chief: Large coal spill in Louisville shouldn't affect water here

HENDERSON, Ky. - The general manager of the Henderson Water Utility says a large coal spill in the Ohio River at Louisville isn't cause for concern here.

"Even if three barge loads of coal made it into the water, and even if that lump coal floated down this far, it would be so diluted by the enormous flow of the river as to be undetectable," Tom Williams said in an email in response to a query from The Gleaner.

Three coal barges sank in the Ohio River near Louisville Wednesday after they broke loose from their tugboat when one hit a bridge.

The Courier-Journal reports the tug was pushing 15 loaded barges when one struck the Clark Memorial Bridge around 8 p.m. on Christmas Day. Six barges were recovered but the others floated downstream and were pinned against a dam.

HWU's Williams said staff here as well as regional officials are keeping tabs, but there isn't any cause for alarm.

"The solid form of coal is much less concerning than coal ash or coal dust, and neither the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission nor the Kentucky Division of Water is concerned about water quality issues, especially this far downstream.

"If I’m doing the math right, the 457,000 cubic feet per second flow going by us each day when the river is this high is almost 300 trillion gallons. We use about 6 million gallons per day, so that’s a 1 in 50,000,000 dilution ratio." 

Williams said that "As part of ORSANCO we will be notified of any elevated levels found by gas chromatograph instruments deployed upstream, such as the one in Evansville and other points along the river.

"Our staff of water treatment operators is at the plant here on Water Street 24/7, and they continually monitor the raw water going into the plant. If something troublesome is detected upstream at Evansville, we have the storage capacity in our system to shut off the raw water coming into the plant for up to a day.  We are prepared, and vigilant."

Evansville officials are also monitoring the situation, confirmed Lisa Cochran, spokeswoman for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.

The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection was also notified of the incident in order "to ensure water stays clean" given the presence of coal on the barges, said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Metz with the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley.

What are potential impacts to the Ohio River?

Coal contains toxic elements such as arsenic as well as heavy metals such as lead and mercury.

While an investigation is ongoing and effects on the river are not yet known, several experts and officials do not believe the amount of coal spilled in the Ohio River this week is enough to cause detrimental effects to the river.

This week's incident is "certainly unfortunate but not the largest concern" facing the Ohio River, said Jason Flickner, director of Lower Ohio River Waterkeeper, a nonprofit group that works to protect the river.

Flickner said reports of barges spilling coal into the Ohio River pop up each year, but the practice of mercury dumping or sewage disposal is a bigger issue for the health of the waterway right now.

Rich Cogen, executive director of the Ohio River Foundation, said coal in its solid form is "less concerning relative to water quality" than coal ash or coal waste that has been burned or combusted.

The presence of coal in the river can, however, be "somewhat concerning" to riverbed aquatic habitats and marine life, Cogen said.

A similar incident involving coal barges happened earlier this year in Pennsylvania. In May, 15 coal barges broke loose and two barges sank and spilled coal into the Monongahela River.

However, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality determined the spilled coal would not present a risk to water downstream from the spill.

Information for this story was also provided by the Louisville Courier Journal.