What's in the water? Kingsport resident expresses concern for Holston River

KINGSPORT — Mike Pendleton said he has lived in and fished around Kingsport his whole life.As a kayak fisherman, Pendleton calls himself a big smallmouth fisherman raised on the river — which is why he felt concerned seeing a white residue appear in the Holston River near Domtar's discharge pipe.Pendleton said after Domtar switched from being a paper plant to a containerboard plant, this new residue became more common. During the two years of the plant's conversion, he said any other concerns had cleared up."When they started up, they started developing this … underwater it almost looks like a white glue-like substance," he said. "It sticks to the rocks, sticks to the river bottom. The whole area at their discharge pipe down to the shoal at Riverfront Seafood, the river bottom is solid white."While Pendleton said he knows Domtar is permitted to discharge certain amounts into the river, it led him to wonder if the facility is violating their permit. Pendleton said he and other kayak fishermen report what they see each time they travel through the area.Pendleton said he kayaked that stretch of the river for the first time in several months on April 4. He reported what he saw to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation on April 7."When I got to that discharge pipe, that discharge pipe runs the length of the river underwater, and it's designed with holes in it to discharge a little bit of material out from their lagoon," Pendleton said. "It was so bad, you couldn't breathe around that pipe. I couldn't fish in that area."For Pendleton, he said he wants to see more transparency from Domtar about what exactly is being discharged into the river. He said the residue created is "not a good look" for Domtar and could potentially deter tourists who fish in the region."Tourists come and fish this river all the time," Pendleton said. "We got the South Holston … people from up in Bristol, fly fishing people. They come through Eastman and drift boats all the time fishing this river. What do they think when they get to that pipe and see that?"The river spans 274 miles through Virginia and Tennessee and is home to 47 species of fish, according to the American Rivers website.Kingsport uses water from the South Fork of the Holston River to produce "high quality potable water" from the city's water treatment plant. A previous press release from American Rivers states the Holston River supplied drinking water for more than 56,000 residents in Tennessee and Virginia in 2015.The city's intake facility is upstream from both Domtar and Eastman. Community speaks outFrom January 2024 to April 10, 2025, seven water-related Domtar complaints were filed to TDEC's Division of Water Resources.In a complaint writeup from April 24, 2024, the complainant said they saw a "grayish white discharge" in the river, discoloring the river bed for 100 to 150 feet downstream."The conditions the complainant described were observed in the river," the corresponding writeup from TDEC states. "The conditions are being caused by the effluent from Domtar's outfall from the lagoons. River conditions have not improved from the last time TDEC observed the discharge. River conditions are also not getting significantly worse than previously investigated."Most recently, a complaint was filed on April 8 concerning the sight of "dead crayfish" and "white slime" on the river, TDEC records show.Jennifer Donnals, a spokesperson for TDEC, said the most recent Domtar complaint is still being investigated."TDEC's Division of Water Resources has received numerous complaints recently and our staff have investigated the complaints," Donnals said in a statement to Six Rivers Media Friday. "The division has reached out to Domtar, and we are awaiting a response. Domtar is in the process of working through corrective actions based [on] an existing order."She said TDEC's analysis of the discharge shows the "white slimy mass" is filamentous bacterium that is "harmless to humans but does result" in nuisance conditions."TDEC is addressing [this] with Domtar through an enforcement action," Donnals said.Domtar respondsTroy Wilson, Domtar's Kingsport mill manager, said much of the location's operations received modification when transitioning to the containerboard plant."It was a fine paper mill, so we converted to 100% recycle," Wilson said. "So that was a huge change in the sense that we don't bring any chips in anymore. We don't have all the chemistry that we had before. We've actually become a lot greener than we were before."Wilson said the mill takes in around 700,00 tons of recycling each year to make their products. The recycled materials, he said, would have otherwise gone into a landfill. He said the mill's transition also brought water flow levels down, meaning that more water is reused within Domtar daily."Instead of that 10 million gallons of water that we use every day in the old mill, now we use three million gallons a day," he said. "So where's the other seven million? We keep it here and we recycle it. So then you still have to bring a small amount of water in, because there's water in the sheet of paper we make, moisture in that, and then through evaporation and spills and stuff like that too."He said Domtar is closely monitored and regulated by TDEC, and they are required to operate within their permit limits and report daily about the mill's activity and discharges."We talk about short term and we talk about long term, and what we're going to do to work with the community, but we're not discharging anything to the river that doesn't fit within our permitting," Wilson said.Wilson said he is a Kingsport resident and outdoorsmen — so he said he is also personally invested in being a good steward to the local environment."I live here too; I'm an outdoorsman," he said. "I fish and hunt; I fished Wednesday. If there's anyone that wants to protect that river, it's me as well."According to Wilson, the white residue observed by TDEC and others in the community comes from the turnover in biological life from the lagoon starting in the spring. He said both TDEC and Domtar have analyzed the residue, which has come back as "biological" and "unharmful to the water system."He said the residue tends to pop up for two or three months in the river and then go away."What you see is when the days get longer and the sun starts to shine more and it starts to warm up and the river levels change and all this environmental and all this takes place, you see a turnover in your water treatment plant," he said. "And it's just a biological thing that happens, right? It happens everywhere, because things start to grow now."Once the anaerobic digester is installed, the 23-acre wastewater treatment plant will be eliminated. Wilson said the digester will create a "smaller, enclosed footprint" with no turnovers because it will be an entirely different system.Funding for the anaerobic digester was first discussed at the July 2024 KEDB meeting. While permits are still in the process of being approved, Domtar has previously stated its hopes for the system to be operating by the first or second quarter of 2026.He said the "lagoon," or the treatment plant, is currently the oldest part of the mill. The digester will replace the oldest with the "best technology you can buy," according to Wilson."We're not just putting a system in to try to mitigate the odor," he said. "We're putting a system in that does more than that, improves our water quality, it does the odor, gives us all gas that we can burn, and it does other things for us as well. It eliminates the lagoon, it eliminates this old, antiquated system."Wilson said anyone with questions about Domtar's practices can submit their questions through the form on Domtar's website at https://domtarpackagingkingsport.com/contact/ or call the mill. Any major updates regarding mill activity are shared with the Kingsport Economic Development Board, city officials and the Kingsport Chamber, Wilson shared."We are doing our part as Domtar to protect the environment," he said. "We will go to great lengths to make sure that happens."Domtar is scheduled to give its next update to the Kingsport Economic Development Board at 10 a.m. May 6, 2025, in the Eastman Board Room, located at the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce near downtown. This meeting is open to the public, with a public comment period at the start of each meeting for related agenda items.Domtar's water historyPer Domtar's NPDES Permit, the company is authorized to "discharge Contain Board Mill wastewater, boiler and cooling tower blowdown from Outfall 001 and filter backwash from Outfall 002 (no treatment) to South Fork Holston River at river mile 2.3." Domtar's other permit covers "discharges of stormwater associated with industrial activities from nine (9) outfall points to Reedy Creek or the South Fork Holston River," TDEC documents state.The company creates recycled containerboard from the collection and recycling of Old Corrugated Containers. According to Domtar's Certification of Pollution Control Facility, nearly $9 million worth of water pollution assets at the Kingsport mill as of November 2024.Domtar's wastewater and discharge practices came into question several times during 2024.On April 8, 2024, TDEC issued a Director's Order to Domtar, assessing a total civil penalty of $64,650 for various purposes. Those reasons were cited as "exceeding permit limits," "failure to maintain treatment equipment" and "causing a condition of pollution."Per the order, Domtar was asked to allocate $12,930 upfront, along with damages totaling $13,024.10 within a month of receiving the order."The remaining penalty is dependent on compliance with the requirements of the Order, including corrective action and a final, evaluative report of those actions," the document states. "The Order shall be considered closed one year following Division approval of the final report, provided all requirements of the Order have been met, any outstanding penalties have been paid, and the Respondent is in substantial compliance with the Act."As part of the company's corrective actions, Domtar informed TDEC in subsequent communication that they brought on Arcadis to complete an engineering evaluation of Domtar's wastewater treatment system. A follow-up letter from Domtar regarding the Director's Order states that Domtar would look into additional analysis of the bacteria that was forming, with testing scheduled to be completed by the end of August last year.Domtar reported to TDEC that around 246,700 gallons of clarified wastewater was released into the South Fork of the Holston River between 11:20 p.m. on June 23 and 3:30 p.m. June 24."The cause of the leak is believed to be corrosion accelerated by erosion of the reducing spool piece due to the flow pattern from the control valve in the pipe just prior to it," the letter states.TDEC responded to the June incident the following month, stating that the "accidental discharge" was not in compliance with Domtar's NPDES permit. The same letter said TDEC received "numerous complaints" related to Domtar's Outfall 001 discharge from the diffuser pipe in the South Fork of the Holston River.After visiting the site of the pipe, the letter states TDEC personnel observed a "brownish tan appearance" to the water, along with a "white slimy substance" as noted in a previous violation from May 2023.In the latter half of 2024, TDEC performed a compliance evaluation inspection at Domtar, records show. That same "white slimy substance" was observed again on Sept. 10, 2024.Domtar responded to related concerns in a Nov. 22 letter, listing out parts of their Corrective Action Plan that was approved by TDEC in August 2024. This plan included implementing regular inspections of the diffuser pipe, installing a mobile clarifier, further sampling and analysis of the residue and placing oil-only absorbents and the outfall.More InformationTo contact Domtar about any concerns or questions, visit https://domtarpackagingkingsport.com/.To contact TDEC about water-related complaints, visit https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/environment/contacts/ask-tdec-questions.html or call 888-891-8332.