Editor, The Daily Clarion

EAST MT. CARMEL-Eight of nine residential water wells tested two weeks ago near Gibson Generating Station coal ash storage ponds had some level of boron, and Duke Energy is providing bottled drinking water to those residents until a long-range alternative is established.

&#8220What we expected from our modeling is what we found," said Duke Energy spokesperson Angeline Protogere. &#8220Testing showed some concentrations of boron in well water surrounding Gibson power plant."

The sampling was conducted as a part of the company's volunteer study of potential environmental impacts of coal ash stored in man-made ponds on the power plant property.

Properties involved two houses, a mobile home park, church and bait shop, said Protogere. She said boron levels ranged from 0.5 parts per million to 5.7 parts per million, with higher levels detected closer to the storage pond.

Protogere said there are no federal or state regulations for levels of boron, a naturally occurring compound, but the U.S. EPA has some guidelines.

The EPA suggests that people could, over the course of their life, consume as much as a half gallon of water daily containing a boron concentration between 1.4 and 7 milligrams per liter without any adverse health effects.

&#8220As a precaution - we don't believe this is an immediate health concern - but as a precaution," said Protogere, &#8220we're offering bottled water. It will be delivered to them once a week."

Protogere said the company expects that alternative is a temporary measure while other alternatives are explored - including possibly piping in municipal water - or examining feasibility of a water treatment system.

She said Duke has shared the testing results with residents, including some federal secondary standards affecting taste and water color. &#8220Some can be attributed to coal ash, others are not," she reported. &#8220None of those measures exceeded health standards."

The test results will also be shared with the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management and the Gibson County Health Dept.

Before sampling, the company mailed notices to property owners and representatives visited the neighboring homes. Duke Energy environmental scientist Jim Meiers explained in the notices that after coal ash is burned to make electricity, the remaining coal ash is combined with water and transferred to the storage ponds on the power plant property.

Lab studies of animals with high, sustained doses of boron have been associated with reproductive and fetal development issues, but boron exposure is not believed to cause cancer, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

According to the ATSDR, ingesting large amounts of boron over short periods of time can harm the stomach, intestines, liver, kidney and brain. The registry says breathing moderate levels of boron irritates the nose, throat and eyes. The chemical has been found in at least 142 of 1,416 national priorities list sites identified by the EPA.

For more information about boron, contact the ATSDR Information Center at 1-888-422-8737.