Premium
Ecological risk assessment for residual coal fly ash at Watts Bar Reservoir, Tennessee: Site setting and problem formulation
Author(s) -
Walls Suzanne J,
Jones Daniel S,
Stojak Amber R,
Carriker Neil E
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
integrated environmental assessment and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1551-3793
pISSN - 1551-3777
DOI - 10.1002/ieam.1583
Subject(s) - fly ash , environmental science , residual , coal , waste management , bar (unit) , environmental engineering , petroleum engineering , engineering , geology , oceanography , mathematics , algorithm
A baseline ecological risk assessment (BERA) was performed for residual ash in the Watts Bar Reservoir following a release of fly ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant. The site consists of parts of 3 rivers in eastern Tennessee comprising over 32 river kilometers. The purpose of the assessment was to determine if residual ash negatively impacts maintenance and reproduction of balanced communities or populations of potentially exposed ecological receptor groups in these rivers. This introductory article summarizes the site and environmental setting, assessment and measurement endpoints, risk characterization methods, and the study approach. Subsequent articles describe ecological risks to fish, benthic invertebrates, aquatic‐ and riparian‐feeding wildlife, and aerial‐feeding insectivores; and the role ecological risk characterization played in determining the most effective management of the residual ash, setting project remediation objectives and targets, and designing long‐term monitoring to measure the effectiveness of the selected removal action. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2015;11:32–42. © 2014 SETAC