Pigeon River Research Paper
Pigeon River Pollution
The Pigeon River flows through North Carolina and right here into East Tennessee. The Pigeon River got its name from an extinct bird, which migrated through the valley of North Carolina. Although, the Pigeon River looks nice, there is something extremely harmful going on inside the river. The long-polluted Pigeon River in Cocke County has not been “fishable” or “swimmable” for over 100 years due to pollution. The river’s water has turned dark brown, and has a terrible odor. The reason behind this beautiful river being polluted is the Blue Ridge Paper Company. The Blue Ridge Paper Company, once part of Champion International Paper, in Canton, North Carolina, is a primary source of Dioxin and matter pollution that has been discharged into the river. Not only has the Blue Ridge Paper Company polluted the water, it gets worse, a couple years ago in 2004, after …show more content…
Advocates challenged the North Carolina Division of Water Quality for a wastewater permit that does not require the proper reductions in thermal discharges being discharged by the paper mill. The permit allows the paper mill to discharge waste into the river that raises the temperature of the water way beyond the standards allowed by the state water quality standards. Due to the extremely high water temperature it is very hard for fish to survive. In 2007, due to the water temperature, nearly 8,000 fish died. The wastewater that the paper mill is dumping into the river is entirely too much waste for a small waterway to handle. Thanks to the EPA permit the mill used to dump about 400,000 pounds of color a day into the river, but the permit made it to where they can only dump 45,000 pounds of color into the river a day. The river is slowly getting better conditions due to all the legal issues against the paper mill; they are finally starting to come to their
The Pigeon River flows through North Carolina and right here into East Tennessee. The Pigeon River got its name from an extinct bird, which migrated through the valley of North Carolina. Although, the Pigeon River looks nice, there is something extremely harmful going on inside the river. The long-polluted Pigeon River in Cocke County has not been “fishable” or “swimmable” for over 100 years due to pollution. The river’s water has turned dark brown, and has a terrible odor. The reason behind this beautiful river being polluted is the Blue Ridge Paper Company. The Blue Ridge Paper Company, once part of Champion International Paper, in Canton, North Carolina, is a primary source of Dioxin and matter pollution that has been discharged into the river. Not only has the Blue Ridge Paper Company polluted the water, it gets worse, a couple years ago in 2004, after …show more content…
Advocates challenged the North Carolina Division of Water Quality for a wastewater permit that does not require the proper reductions in thermal discharges being discharged by the paper mill. The permit allows the paper mill to discharge waste into the river that raises the temperature of the water way beyond the standards allowed by the state water quality standards. Due to the extremely high water temperature it is very hard for fish to survive. In 2007, due to the water temperature, nearly 8,000 fish died. The wastewater that the paper mill is dumping into the river is entirely too much waste for a small waterway to handle. Thanks to the EPA permit the mill used to dump about 400,000 pounds of color a day into the river, but the permit made it to where they can only dump 45,000 pounds of color into the river a day. The river is slowly getting better conditions due to all the legal issues against the paper mill; they are finally starting to come to their