Reservoirs’ Smell is Health Risk
By Bob Downing, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
Jul. 28–Public access to areas downstream of dams at three Ohio reservoirs has been limited because of health threats from a rotten-smelling gas.
Warnings for hydrogen sulfide — it produces a rotten-egg smell — have been posted at Atwood, Clendening and Tappan lakes by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Muskingum Conservancy Watershed District.
The problem has also been found at Piedmont and Leesville lakes, although no warnings have been posted there because the levels are lower, said Darrin Lautenschleger, a spokesman for the watershed district.
The reservoirs behind the dams are safe for swimming, boating and fishing, but the potential exists for dangerous levels of the gas where the dams discharge water to streams.
Hydrogen sulfide is not a problem at the city of Akron’s three reservoirs in Portage and Geauga counties, said Michael McGlinchy, director of the Akron Public Utilities Bureau.
The problem appears to be more common in deeper lakes that are fed by streams that contain mine acid runoff, and the problem has been evident at the lakes in recent years, Lautenschleger said.
Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas. It naturally forms in lakes when sulfates mix with organic matter at the bottom of lakes in late summer and early fall.
Exposure to high levels of hydrogen sulfide can cause fatigue, dizziness, nausea, eye irritation and headaches. Young children are at the greatest risk.
The gas is formed when there are high sulfate levels in the lakes. The sulfates are converted to hydrogen sulfide by bacteria at the lake bottom. The gas moves from lake water into the air when lake waters are released from dams.
That led to the closure of the areas around the three Ohio dams to the public, a close that will likely continue until the fall when the threat lessens.
Federal work-place exposure to hydrogen sulfide is limited to 10 minutes over an eight-hour day with levels at 50 parts per million, and levels are that high at the three dams, Lautenschleger said.
The Corps of Engineers says high levels of hydrogen sulfide can affect fish populations and can contribute to the deterioration of concrete in dams.
It is monitoring the gas levels and will notify the public and appropriate agencies if the levels pose a human health threat.
Army proposes remedy
The Army has proposed a $15 million remedy for the five reservoirs: Atwood Lake in Tuscarawas and Carroll counties, Clendening and Tappan lakes, both in Harrison County, Piedmont Lake in Belmont County and Leesville Lake in Carroll County.
The conservancy district would have to pay 25 percent of the cost or $3.75 million.
The district would pay for the dam improvements with money from a new assessment in the Muskingum River watershed that could win court approval on Wednesday.
That led critics of the assessment to charge that the district is trying to win support for the assessment by claiming a threat from hydrogen sulfide.
The district said the planned dam work is a matter of public health and safety.
Next week, the district’s Conservancy Court — one common pleas judge from each of the 18 counties — will decide whether to confirm the appraisal of benefits in the district’s plan for 14 reservoirs and dams.
That could lead to the district’s Board of Directors to consider and vote on levying the assessments in 2008.
The assessment would raise $10.5 million a year from property owners in 18 counties, including Summit, Stark and Wayne counties. The typical assessment would be $12 a year.
Most of the money raised — up to $135 million of the $210 million to be raised over 20 years — would be used to repair four dams — Beach City, Bolivar, Dover and Mohawk — and one levee (Zoar) under a revised construction plan. That money would be the local share needed to match federal grants.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
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