Toxic Metals Recorded in Rivers Near Coal Ash Pond in UA Study

2025 study at the University of Alabama finds contamination of surface water and river sediment outside of the coal ash pond at Plant Barry. Evidence that contamination is not localized to the ground water and aquifer under the pond.

The study was conducted by the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA and Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science, Texas A&M University at Galveston, TX. The study findings were published in June 2025 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Science of the Total Environment.

Hydrological and geochemical controls of surface water and suspended sediment toxic metal fluxes from nearshore large coal ash pond

Authors: Stephen Anderson, Natasha T Dimova, and Dini Adyasari

Summary of findings:

This was an in-depth study of surface water (SW) contamination and contamination of suspended sediment (SS) particles in the water and sediment at the  bottom of the Mobile River outside the ash pond. Analysis of the contamination was conducted during the dry season, the rainy season, and post flooding river conditions. The 

essential question of the study was: Are toxic trace metals, typically associated with coal 

ash, present at elevated levels in the Mobile River surface water (SW) and SS adjacent to Plant Barry's ash pond? 

The study identified a significant contribution of toxic metals (e.g., Arsenic, As; Cadmium, Cd) linked to coal ash near Sister's Creek, the man-made cooling discharge channel of Plant Barry, particularly during the dry season. During this study Cd was detected in SS as high as 4.2 mg/kg, exceeding the 2.2 mg/kg observed in sediments following the Kingston Plant, TN spill in 2016 when there was a catastrophic failure of the dirt retaining dike.

Read published article at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40273523/