WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Radford's ammunition plant reacts to New River's dirty ranking

Radford's ammunition plant reacts to New River's dirty ranking

The New River is the second oldest in the world, but a recent study now claims it's also the second dirtiest waterway in America.

A study by the Environment America advocacy group points toward 13.6 million pounds of pollution, all coming from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant within one year.

The group's numbers are based on reports to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"The report doesn't include the whole picture.  That would be our only concern is that it's not the entire context of the environmental work that we do here at Radford," said Rob Davie, local Army staff at the ammunition plant.

He's the chief of the operations team and admits the numbers are accurate, but says the plant is well within its state permit limits.

Propellants are made at the plant that require a lot of water, as well as nitric and sulfuric acids.  Brad Jennings, the Army's engineering coordinator, explains what's done with the waste water.

"Then we bring it to an area where we add lime to the water to neutralize it, and then the lime solution is settled out, and the water is discharged to the river," said Jennings. 

In a phone interview, George Santucci, the executive director of the National Committee for the New River, said he was shocked when he saw the report, but said he knows there are nastier pollutants going into the water from other sources.

"We haven't fully determined what the impact of that nitrogen on the river.  There is some great irony, the fishing over there is some of the best fishing on the entire river," said Santucci. 

"We are very comfortable with what we're doing here, and we're always striving to do better, and we'll continue to do that," said Davie. 

Santucci says his group will try to work with the ammunition plant to help them reduce their impact on the environment.

Jennings, the engineering coordinator, tells News7 there is such a thing as zero discharge of pollutants.

He says it would take a combination of great funding and the technology is just isn't there yet.