Uranium has been found in well water near Juliette, Georgia, but tests by several different groups of researchers differ on whether it might be related to nearby coal ash from Plant Scherer. The same coal ash ponds near which some people are getting cancer from uranium in their well water. Coal ash like we have in Veolia landfill in Lowndes County.

S. Heather Duncan wrote for Macon.com yesterday, New water test results shed light on Juliette contamination,

Many Juliette residents have expressed concern that a coal ash pond at Plant Scherer, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the country, might be causing the problem. Georgia Power is majority owner and operator of the plant and its 750-acre, unlined pond filled with coal ash slurry, which can contain heavy metals such as uranium….

Since then, water samples tested by the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as a smaller group of samples tested by a group of University of Georgia graduate students, showed no pattern of contamination that could be clearly linked to groundwater flow from the coal ash pond. The samples were taken last year, but in some cases it took months for the samples to be analyzed….

On the other hand,

the EPA test results showed many wells that were not between the pond and the river — including some wells west of Interstates 75 and 475, in the opposite direction and far southwest of the plant — were heavily contaminated with uranium, radium and related radioactive particles….

The EPA lab results showed that of the 45 samples, 28 had either uranium, radium or “gross alpha” levels that exceeded safe limits. Some of these were only slightly high, while nine were very high in all three categories.

Meanwhile, UGA students tested wells near the coal ash ponds and found no significant contamination. So results are inconclusive as to the source of the uranium, but it’s coming from somewhere, and people are getting sick from it. There’s more in the article.

-jsq

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