24 million Gallons Drawn From Nolichucky

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen, the Greene County chemical company, drew 24.266 million gallons of free water from the Nolichucky River during the month of August, according to a report filed with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
The filing by US Nitrogen shows that the company pumped more than 1 million gallons from the waterway on nine separate days. The highest daily total was 1.2623 million gallons.
In the same report the company reported it dumped or discharged 10.9377 gallons back into the river. The highest daily discharge was on Aug. 30 when 583,300 gallons were discharged from the company's Midway plant. On six days during the month, including Aug.17 and Aug. 18 no waste water was discharged into the river.
The total water withdrawn was slightly higher than the 23 million gallons withdrawn in July, but well below the record 38.7 million gallons withdrawn in December of 2017.
Both the discharge and uptake amounts were substantially lower than the company reported for August. Water withdrawn in August topped 24 million gallons while nearly 11 million was discharged.
TDEC recently renewed the controversial permit that allows the company to use river water to produce ammonium nitrate and other products.
The intake and discharge pumps are located at mile marker 20.8 on the Nolichucky.
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