USN Magnesium Levels Top Standards

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The level of magnesium detected in storm water runoff at US Nitrogen's sprawling Greene County site exceeded benchmark levels by a factor of 200 and also nearly doubled the amount reported a year ago, according to data submitted to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
In an annual report submitted this week by US Nitrogen, the company reported the benchmark levels of magnesium were exceeded at two monitoring sites on the company's Midway location.
Similar results have been reported in prior years and a company official said in a letter to TDEC that US Nitrogen's industrial activities "do not utilize material with notable levels of magnesium."
Dylan Charles of US Nitrogen wrote that the company continues to believe the above normal readings "are from background concentrations and/or from water flowing across rock."
He stated that excess levels of magnesium have been detected in water samples collected from the Nolichucky River and other surface waters in the area.
At one monitoring site magnesium levels in storm water runoff were 10.7 milligrams per liter and they reached 14.9 milligrams per liter at a second site. The benchmark level is .0636 milligrams per liter, according to US Nitrogen's submission.
Last year the highest level of magnesium was 7.91 milligrams per liter
He said one of the two sites with excess readings is located in an area where no manufacturing takes place. That area receives runoff from a parking lot, the letter states.
He also noted that portions of the storm water runoff on the site "are conveyed through a series of rock lined channels."
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