EPD: No big impact from chemical runoff

August 03, 2010
By Lee Shearer | Online Athens

Runoff from a chemical plant fire last week turned the water blue miles downstream, but "did not have a significant impact on the North Oconee River," the state Environmental Protection Division said Monday.

The EPD released test results that showed high formaldehyde and para-dichlorobenzene levels near the plant, but lesser concentrations as the chemicals grew more diluted downstream.
Still, more than 100 people packed the Athens-Clarke County Library on Monday night, demanding a lot more answers from state and local officials about what kind of chemicals were in the blue water.

Athens-Clarke firefighters poured an estimated 1.5 million gallons of water onto the J&J Chemical Co. in Athens Technology Park off Olympic Drive when a fire broke out Wednesday. Much of it ran off into an unnamed stream that flows into Trail Creek, coloring the water bright blue with dye used at the plant.

J&J Chemical manufactures restroom deodorizers, graffiti remover, foaming hand soap and other products, some containing toxic chemicals such as methanol, para-dichlorobenzene, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde.

People at the meeting wanted to know if the stuff in the water was dangerous to their health and to the waterways.

"Our eyes were irritated, our throats," said Sandor Heilig, who lives near the North Oconee River and was one of several people at a meeting who wondered why state or local officials didn't warn residents of possible hazards, or explain why officials thought it was safe.

Another woman who lives near the North Oconee, Carol Myers, said she spent a big part of her Saturday trying to get answers from the EPD.

"I wanted to know if it was safe," Myers said. "I'm still, as you can tell, very, very angry."
Ben Emanuel, the Oconee River Project director for the Altamaha Riverkeeper, said the environmental groups planned to submit the questions to officials with the EPD and other local and state agencies, and would share the answers they got.

No one from the EPD was at the meeting, though the agency issued test results Monday afternoon from water samples that a private environmental cleanup company took Thursday and Friday.
The runoff "did not have a significant impact on the North Oconee River," the EPD said.

Some fish died in the smaller creeks, but aquatic life "does not seem to have been affected" in the North Oconee and Oconee rivers, EPD spokesman Kevin Chambers said.

The private company's tests showed formaldehyde levels of 5,550 parts per billion in the creek behind the plant, diminishing to 2,310 parts per billion where Trail Creek merges with the North Oconee at Dudley Park, according to figures the EPD released this afternoon.

Para-dichlorobenzene concentrations were 15,500 parts per billion in the creek behind the plant, but only 407 parts per billion in Trail Creek at Dudley Park, the EPD said.

According to EPD standards, drinking water with 75 parts per billion of para-dichlorobenzene is safe, and stream water with 190 parts per billion is not considered hazardous to wildlife.

Still, the EPD recommends that people stay out of the water along the East Fork of Trail Creek and Trail Creek to the confluence of the North Oconee River.

The EPD started taking its own samples Monday at six sites: Trail Creek at the North Oconee River; the North Oconee at College Station and Whitehall roads; the Oconee River at Barnett Shoals Road in Oconee County and at Georgia Highway 15 in Greene County; and the North Oconee upstream of the Trail Creek confluence.

The environmental groups that called Monday night's meeting - Altamaha Riverkeeper, the Upper Oconee Watershed Network and Athens Grow Green Coalition - gathered questions to submit to the EPD and Athens-Clarke officials about the fire, the runoff and how officials handled the crisis.
Questioners wanted to know, among other things, if J&J Chemical was in compliance with state and federal regulations for chemical storage; whether the runoff contained dangerous chemicals other than para-dichlorobenzene and formaldehyde; what kind of cleanup will take place and who will pay for it; and if anyone from the EPD monitored the spill and river conditions over the weekend.

Several Athens-Clarke commissioners attended the meeting, as did state Rep. Keith Heard, D-Athens, who said he is pressing EPD officials for answers.

Oconee River Chemical Spill more details >>