Environmental Protection—TVA Experience

TVA has been engaged in environmental protection since the agency was created in 1933. This resulted from TVA's responsibility for development and protection of the resources in the Tennessee Valley and for improvement in agricultural practices and education. Several environmental protection projects are carried out as parts of the program for agricultural development and power plant operation. These include studies of nuisance weed growth in reservoirs, measurement of nutrient discharge from agricultural lands, development of fly ash control methods, research on sulfur dioxide removal from power plant stack gases, and investigation of environmental effects of waste heat from nuclear power plants. Environmental protection is demonstrated at fertilizer production units operated by TVA. Also, other fertilizer producers are assisted with environmental problems, some TVA fertilizers possess properties useful in control of wastes in air. In cooperation with another government agency, treatment and utilization of municipal waste as a soil amendment is being investigated. The examples of environmental protection projects show the broad scope of environmental protection work carried out by TVA.