By Josh Bergeron

josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

DUKEVILLE — With confusion swirling about Duke Energy’s promise to provide water to families near Buck Steam Station, a Mooresville company has committed to provide several pallets of water to area residents.

Bottled water from the Mooresville plant of Niagara Bottling Co., which has its headquarters in Canada, will be delivered at 10 a.m. today to the Miller Ferry Fire Department’s 2650 Long Ferry Road location. The Wallace and Graham law firm, which is representing families who live near the Buck Steam Station and other coal ash ponds in North Carolina, arranged a for a person to pick up the water on Thursday.

Derek Zeedyk, maintenance manager for Niagara’s Mooresville plant, said on Thursday that the company is willing to provide Wallace and Graham with “basically as much water as they can haul.”

The company’s donation comes after significant confusion among Dukeville families about the delivery schedule of water from Duke Energy. In multiple statements, Duke Energy promised to provide water to any resident near its coal ash pits with contaminated well water. As of Tuesday, about 20 families had received a water delivery, according to Duke. A total of 32 families, however, have wells declared unsafe by the state. Test results for more than a dozen other properties near Buck Steam Station haven’t yet been returned to local residents.

Zeedyk said the story of Dukeville families’ water struggles prompted the donation.

“I live in Salisbury and saw that there was a need,” Zeedyk said. “We donate our product all the time and thought this was an opportunity for us to help out.”

The donation from Niagara isn’t recurring, according to a statement from Salisbury attorney Mona Wallace. Some of the water will also be offered to residents near the Allen Steam Station, Wallace said.

“Hopefully, it will help the Buck community until Duke agrees to provide additional water to those who need it,” Wallace said. “We believe that Duke should step up and provide free drinking water for all the families who request it. We also believe the area for the water should be extended out further around the coal ash ponds.”

Two of the households that have received test results aren’t currently scheduled to receive water from Duke Energy. The company says it’s only providing water to houses with unsafe water wells. One of the two results declared well water safe, despite being a few hundred yards from a coal ash pond. The other house received test results that were inconclusive.

Test results for the 32 families with unsafe water showed levels of hexavalent chromium and vanadium. Both substances are found in coal ash. Duke Energy, however, says its coal ash ponds are not responsible for the test results, and the substances are naturally occurring.

Wallace contests Duke’s claim and cited the fact that coal ash ponds near Dukeville are unlined.

“We are very concerned about how far the coal ash contaminants have spread out into the communities and their water and the long term effects on safe drinking water, health and value of homes,” Wallace said. “I grew up with a lot of those people who live in Dukeville, and they are my personal friends. I went to school with many of them or their children. In fact, my father built at least one of the homes that is involved.”

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.