Georgia Power to begin dewatering process at Plant Hammond ash ponds in December

Georgia Power announced the next phase in the closure and excavation of four ash ponds at its Plant Hammond facility will begin in December, with a dewatering process meant to maintain water quality along the way.

“As we begin the dewatering process at Plant Hammond, we are pleased with the progress we have made on our ash pond closures at all of our plants across the state,” Dr. Mark Berry, vice president of Environmental & Natural Resources for Georgia Power, said. “We continue to focus on safety and meeting all requirements throughout the process to fulfill our longstanding commitment to protect the environment, our local communities, and water quality every step of the way.”

Monitoring wells currently sit around the facility’s ash ponds, as at all Georgia Power ash ponds and on-site landfills, as a means of checking groundwater quality. For the dewatering process, a customized effort has been set up, wherein the company will treat the water to help it meet wastewater discharge permit requirements and water quality standards.

Three ash ponds at Plant Hammond will be completely excavated, and their ash stored in a lined landfill. A fourth pond will be closed in place with engineering methods and closure technologies. Each closure will be certified by a team of independent professional engineers. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division signed off on the dewatering plan already and acts as regulator.

Plans for the closures have been underway since September 2015.