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State to probe Badin Lake contamination
By Bruce Henderson
[e-mail]
Posted: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009
The N.C. Division of Water Quality will investigate the source of contaminated fish in Badin Lake east of Charlotte,
an official said today.
State health authorities have posted a fish-consumption advisory for largemouth bass and catfish caught in the
lake. Those species may be contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which can cause a range of
health problems, possibly including cancer.
Badin Lake becomes the third N.C. body of water - the other two are near Raleigh - where consumers have been
warned of eating PCB-contaminated fish. Advisories for the toxic metal mercury are more widespread, covering
certain species of fish across Eastern North Carolina, and largemouth bass statewide.
The Badin advisory was posted as aluminum-maker Alcoa spars with Stanly County over water rights and
contamination from its now-closed smelter on Badin Lake.
As part of the company's renewal of its 50-year federal hydroelectric license for the Yadkin River, the state water-
quality division has to certify that Alcoa's dams and lakes won't hurt the Yadkin. The state has until May to issue
the permit.
The fish findings "are definitely part of the decision-making process," said John Dorney, a division official in
charge of water-quality certification. "We need to try to do more investigation of where those (chemicals) are
coming from."
Alcoa acknowledges it is likely responsible for contamination by PCBs and a second group of chemicals in lake
sediment near the now-closed aluminum works.
But two of the three contaminated fish found in the lake came from its northern end -the smelter is on the
southern tip - and the company says the PCBs could have come from upstream. Health authorities say PCBs can
also travel long distances by air, landing far from its release point.
Dorney said he's gathering information on how to trace the source of PCBs. More water or fish samples might be
needed, he said.
At the same time. he said, the division has to decide whether fish contamination should be part of the water-
quality review now in progress.
If the answer is yes, he said, the May decision deadline could be extended if Alcoa agrees to withdraw and
reapply for the permit. That happened last spring, at the state's urging, after Stanly County submitted a report on
contamination in Badin Lake.
Although Alcoa's aluminum works produced tons of hazardous wastes, company official Gene Ellis has said the
PCBs found in lake sediment likely came from electrical equipment at the plant.
PCBs were used as lubricants and coolants in transformers and other electrical devices before they were banned
in the United States in the 1970s.
in any case, Dorney said, "the public's going to want to know where this stuff is coming from."
?tnte to probe Kadin Lake contamirotion I CharlotteObsen er.com http://Nvw .cMriotte.observer convbreaiangisiory/asvrnv.turv
More on the Badin Lake fish-consumption advisory: www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/fish/current.html
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