MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — It's been mostly quiet since Plant Branch was demolished in 2017, but now Georgia Power is moving forward with plans to clean up the site.
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The power company began their dewatering process of the plant's coal ash ponds on Monday.
"As part of the process to close those ponds, it's necessary to remove the water from those ponds to proceed with the closure," said Aaron Mitchell, general manager of Environmental Affairs at Georgia Power.
Plant Branch was shut down in 2015, but its ash ponds remain on the site near the Putnam-Baldwin County line.
Georgia Power will be cleaning the ash ponds through a wastewater treatment plant, and the remaining gunk will be deposited in a new lined landfill on the Plant Branch property.
The process will be evaluated in three steps, according to a release from Georgia Power:
- Continuous, real-time monitoring of the water as it's being treated and moves through the system, to help ensure the treatment facility is operating effectively. Safeguards in place include automatic shutoff of the system so that the water is retained on site until treatment standards are met.
- Dewatering discharge will be sampled on a weekly basis. The samples will be collected by an independent, third-party contractor and tested by an independent, third-party, accredited laboratory. These test reports will be sent to the Environmental Protection Division and posted on Georgia Power’s website.
- Water samples will be taken from Lake Sinclair twice per month, upstream and downstream of the discharge. These samples will also be sent to the independent, third party, accredited laboratory for testing. The test results will be reported to EPD and made available on Georgia Power’s website.
Tommy Roe has worked on Lake Sinclair for two years. He said he's happy to see the cleanup and hopes it can lead to something productive.
"As long as they finish up and clean it up the right way, yeah, where we can do something else; bring some shopping over here. Yeah, I think it's a great thing," Roe said.
The process will take time though. According to Mitchell, it will be at least a decade before it's complete.
"We're making sure that we are protective of water quality throughout the ash pond closure process, we'll continue to treat all water from the ash ponds until the closure process is completed," Mitchell said.
Plant Branch is one of 11 coal-fired plants where 29 total ash ponds are being closed by Georgia Power. One ash pond on site has already been closed. Four are left.