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Tainted well water near Tri-State power plant

Reporter: Shannon Samson
New Media Producer: Nick Storm 

Duke Energy is providing bottled water to neighbors in a small Gibson County community.   That's because the chemical boron has tainted their well water.

James Taylor owns a bait shop across the street from Duke Energy. He's noticed more of his bait fish have been dying lately and wonders if it has anything to do with the water they're swimming in. The power company just notified him it's tainted with boron.

James Taylor, TNT Sporting Goods, says,  "Well I was kind of shocked. I don't know. It's kind of scary."

Seven of James' neighbors also have boron in their water wells. It comes from coal ash, the dust left over when coal is burned to generate electricity. Duke Energy disposes of it in man-made ponds on its property. The company wants to dig more ponds, but first tested the environmental impact of its existing ones and found they were leaking boron into the ground water.

Don Faulkner, Gibson Generating Station Manager, says, "We have dirt or clay liners but apparently some of those liners are broke down."

Boron has been shown to cause reproductive problems in lab animals, but Duke Energy says the levels it's dealing with are well within the EPA's guidelines for human consumption.

Faulkner says, "Based on the numbers we received from the analysis, from the samples from the neighbors we believe we do not have any adverse effects on the neighbors."

Still to be conservative the company is supplying residents with bottled water, a precaution that doesn't completely alleviate James' health concerns.

Taylor says, "Well, I'm worried for my kids and my grand kids more than myself, you know, but I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see."

Duke Energy says it will take up to a year to hook James' and his neighbors up to the city water supply or treat their tainted wells.