Protecting our communities’ drinking water

employee testing water in a lab

We continue taking aggressive measures to protect our communities’ land and water resources, and our ongoing investments across our power plant fleet will ensure our compliance with ever-changing environmental regulations.

We have a long history of surface and groundwater monitoring at our power plants that, at some locations, extends back to the early 1980s to help ensure drinking water resources for our communities remain safe.  

As part of our extensive plans and in compliance with the U.S. EPA’s Effluent Limitation Guidelines, we operate new, state-of-the-art process-water treatment facilities – using physical and chemical-based technologies – and we’re in the process of also adding biological treatment methods over the next several years to further treat water before leaving our power plants.

Monitoring data

  • In compliance with the U.S. EPA’s CCR Rule, utilities were required to install new monitoring wells along the perimeters of CCR storage facilities and monitor a broader list of parameters to further evaluate ground water conditions for at least 30 years. 
  • Our monitoring data is reported to the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection and demonstrates that water quality surrounding our power plants has and continues to remain safe for recreational use and does not indicate any threat to drinking water supplies. 
  • Water quality is also monitored, tested, and affirmed by each respective local water utility that provides service to nearby areas to ensure water quality standards are maintained.
  • The combination of our historical groundwater monitoring data and the newly expanded monitoring obligations enhance our understanding of individual site conditions. 
  • Data collected to meet the CCR Rule is assembled into an annual report and published in our CCR Rule Compliance Data and Information section.
Ghent state-of-the-art water treatment facilities

We operate new, state-of-the-art water treatment facilities – such as this facility at Ghent – at all of our power plants to treat waters that come in contact with CCR materials.