Study showed that discharge from wastewater treatment plant near Alexandria KY would be concentrated as it reaches drinking water intakes.

Since 2003, GCWW has challenged the discharge location for the new waste water treatment plant presently under construction near Alexandria KY.  In order to learn more about potential effects of the wastewater treatment plant discharge 11 miles upstream of drinking water intakes, USGS conducted a red dye study in the Ohio River during summer 2005.  USGS scientists injected a harmless red dye into the Ohio River upstream of our intakes, in the vicinity of the discharge. GCWW was one of the sponsors of the study.

The purpose was to study the mixing characteristics of this stretch of river to determine whether the effluent discharge would be completely mixed by the time it reached discharge intakes. Results showed that the discharge would still be concentrated as it reached drinking water intakes. In addition, the flow tended to be more concentrated toward the Kentucky side of the Ohio River where GCWW's drinking water intakes are located. USGS has published these findings at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1159.

Rhodamine WT dye (red dye) is used as a tracer in various bodies of water  because it is non-toxic, non-decaying, and can be measured at low concentrations without causing public nuisance. During the study, USGS scientists injected red dye at a constant flow over a period of more than 24 hours near the Ohio River discharge point.  They then measured dye concentrations at one-mile cross sections of the river.