Health of EFPC improves
Ecological health of East Fork Poplar Creek continues to improve
Thurs, 16 April 2009
Aquatic biologists have found a significant improvement in the ecological health of East Fork Poplar Creek. The stream originates within the Y‑12 National Security Complex and flows through the city of Oak Ridge. During the Cold War era, it sustained substantial contamination as a result of nuclear weapons production at Y‑12.
Substantial increases in the number and abundance of fish and other aquatic life, especially those that are more sensitive to pollution, have been found in the latest studies performed.
The most recent detailed study of the status of the creek, conducted by researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was reported Thursday evening at the State of the Creek presentation held at Y‑12’s New Hope Center. ORNL biologist Mark Peterson reported information from the 2008 study, showing positive trends continue to show incremental changes. There have been no significant negative changes in the status of the creek since this study was completed.
The ongoing recovery of East Fork Poplar Creek can be largely attributed to the numerous environmental improvement projects, pollution prevention measures and remedial actions undertaken at Y‑12 since the mid 1980s. For many years, there has been a special emphasis at Y‑12 to reduce the impact on receiving streams of legacy contaminants, particularly mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Major projects to improve the ecological health of the creek include:
- constructing waste water treatment facilities,
- rerouting drains,
- capping waste burial sites,
- implementing pollution prevention measures, and
- implementing Best Management Practices.
All the actions have resulted in steady improvements in water quality.
One result of the various actions taken at Y‑12 has been a significant decrease in mercury entering East Fork Poplar Creek. The use of metallic mercury in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in the contamination of the soil, buildings, storm drain network, and ground and surface water.
Since the mid 1980s, ORNL researchers associated with the Y‑12 Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) have monitored the health of stream fish and benthic communities in East Fork Poplar Creek. This long-term biological monitoring program has been very successful over the years in documenting the effects of Y‑12 remedial actions in restoring the ecological health of the stream and indicating areas where further improvement is needed.
These data are reported to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and other regulatory agencies, as stipulated in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that became effective in May 2006.
Although the pronounced decrease in water-borne mercury and the improvement in the biological communities of East Fork Poplar Creek are welcome news, challenges to further recovery in the creek remain. For example, mercury continues to be elevated in East Fork Poplar Creek fish despite significant reductions of mercury concentrations in water. As with other mercury contaminated sites across the nation, reducing mercury concentrations in fish to acceptable levels will continue to be a challenging task.
With effective environmental programs at Y‑12, such as the BMAP and Environmental Officer Program, which involves every organization within the site in achieving environmental objectives, and with various large-scale environmental remediation and decontamination and decommissioning activities planned over the next few years, further recovery of the creek is anticipated.
B&W Y‑12, a limited liability enterprise of The Babcock and Wilcox Company and Bechtel National Inc., operates the Y‑12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration.