Evidence for unmonitored coal ash spills in Sutton Lake, North Carolina: Implications for contamination of lake ecosystems

Environmental impacts of Hurricane Florence flooding in eastern North Carolina: temporal analysis of contaminant distribution and potential human health risks

“…Metals which have much lower natural abundances, such as arsenic, were detected in concentrations between 1.04–4.05 μg/g. Other metals, including selenium, antimony, and barium, which are known to be found in coal ash ponds and may have potential adverse human health effects ( 16 , 35 ), were found in at least 50% of samples.…”

“…Next, to determine the potential for the metal contaminants in these samples to be from the coal ash, we calculated the enrichment of metals in these New Hanover county samples as compared to Bladen county, a rural area with no known coal ash contamination ( Figure 4A ). As a reference of a coal ash-contaminated sediment, we also show the enrichment factors for the same metals from the recent study of Sutton coal ash pond ( 35 ), location that is upstream from the sampling sites examined herein. We found that strontium, barium, manganese, cobalt and nickel in New Hanover county samples 1 and 4 had enrichment factors similar to those in samples from Sutton coal ash pond sediment ( 35 ).…”

“…As a reference of a coal ash-contaminated sediment, we also show the enrichment factors for the same metals from the recent study of Sutton coal ash pond ( 35 ), location that is upstream from the sampling sites examined herein. We found that strontium, barium, manganese, cobalt and nickel in New Hanover county samples 1 and 4 had enrichment factors similar to those in samples from Sutton coal ash pond sediment ( 35 ). Figure 4B shows a distribution of concentrations, normalized to aluminum (see Supplemental Table 13 ), for several metals in the samples collected in this study or those for soils from East or West North Carolina and the US ( 39 ).…”

“…In order to perform a comparative analysis of presence of coal combustion-enriched metals among soil samples in this study and to the data from a previous publication ( 35 ), we calculated an enrichment factor (EF). An enrichment factor is the ratio of the concentration of each metal between a test location and a reference location and was calculated using formula [ 6 ]: …”

Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium

“…The interaction of CCRs with water mobilizes trace elements into leachates of the CCRs, which upon release to the environment through permitted releases, leaking, or spills can contaminate associated rivers, lakes, and groundwater (e.g., Brandt et al, 2018;Harkness et al, 2016;L. Ruhl et al, 2012;Vengosh et al, 2019). Elevated Li concentrations have been reported for effluents discharged from coal ash ponds in North Carolina, with concentrations up to 445 μg/L, which are over 100-fold higher than Li in upstream waters that feed these plants (L. Ruhl et al, 2012 Supporting Information).…”