City · TRI 2024

Spring City, Tennessee Pollution

1 TRI facilities inside the city limits and 3 public water systems serving residents. In-city TRI releases rose meaningfully year over year (+20%). Toxic releases concentrations have more than doubled since 2014.

FIPS 4770400 · population 2,294 · Rhea County

IN-CITY TRI RELEASES · 20142024
Bar chart of annual values from 2014 to 2024, in lb. Most recent year (2024): 1k.1k'14'16'18'20'22'241k
Anomaly engine

Notable Signals

UNRESOLVED VIOLATION · SDWIS VIOLATION

Contaminant 7000

Unresolved Phase I/II/V Synthetic Organic Chemical Rules violation cited in 2025 (contaminant 7000).

EPA SDWIS record

UNRESOLVED VIOLATION · SDWIS VIOLATION

Contaminant 7000

Unresolved Phase I/II/V Synthetic Organic Chemical Rules violation cited in 2022 (contaminant 7000).

EPA SDWIS record

UNRESOLVED VIOLATION · SDWIS VIOLATION

Contaminant 2037

Unresolved Nitrate/Nitrite violation cited in 2021 (contaminant 2037).

EPA SDWIS record

UNRESOLVED VIOLATION · SDWIS VIOLATION

Contaminant 2037

Unresolved Nitrate/Nitrite violation cited in 2021 (contaminant 2037).

EPA SDWIS record

Pollutant pathways

Spring City Pollutant Multi-Year Trends

HAZARDOUS AIR2020 VINTAGE

Lifetime cancer risk all pollutants (100 in a million (EPA elevated threshold))Health riskEPA-modeled added cancer cases per million residents from a lifetime of breathing local air toxics. EPA flags 100-in-a-million as elevated.

30.0 per million · 2020 vintage

Single-vintage exposure modeling — EPA cadence is multi-year, so no trend line yet.

HAZARDOUS AIR2020 VINTAGE

Formaldehyde ambient mean (0.077 µg/m³ (1-in-a-million URE))Health riskAn air toxic emitted by refineries, wood products, and combustion. EPA classifies it as a known human carcinogen — long-term inhalation raises cancer risk.

1.69 µg/m³ · 2020 vintage

Single-vintage exposure modeling — EPA cadence is multi-year, so no trend line yet.

HAZARDOUS AIR2020 VINTAGE

Benzene ambient mean (0.13 µg/m³ (1-in-a-million URE))Health riskAn air toxic from gasoline, refineries, and tobacco smoke. A known human carcinogen — chronic exposure is linked to leukemia and other blood cancers.

0.09 µg/m³ · 2020 vintage

Single-vintage exposure modeling — EPA cadence is multi-year, so no trend line yet.

TRI AIRSINCE 2014

TRI air releases (5.1 fugitive + 5.2 stack)Health riskToxic chemicals reported by industrial facilities as released into the air — fugitive leaks plus smokestack emissions. Higher pounds means more inhaled exposure for nearby residents.

1k lb · +20% YoY · since 2014

TRI air releases (5.1 fugitive + 5.2 stack) volumes here are too small to anchor a multi-year trend; YoY movement is still shown above.

TRI WATERSINCE 2014

TRI water releases (5.3)Health riskToxic chemicals reported by industrial facilities as discharged to surface waters (rivers, lakes, the ocean). Affects fishing, recreation, and downstream drinking-water intakes.

0 lb · YoY · since 2014

TRI water releases (5.3) volumes here are too small to anchor a multi-year trend; YoY movement is still shown above.

TRI LANDSINCE 2014

TRI land + off-site releasesHealth riskToxic chemicals released to land on-site or transferred off-site for disposal — landfills, deep-well injection, and similar. Risks groundwater contamination over time.

0 lb · YoY · since 2014

TRI land + off-site releases volumes here are too small to anchor a multi-year trend; YoY movement is still shown above.

GHGSINCE 2010

Greenhouse gases (GHGRP large emitters, through 2023)Health riskGreenhouse gases reported by large industrial emitters under EPA's GHGRP, in metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. Drives climate warming and the heat-related health effects that follow.

0.2M metric tons CO₂e · +6% YoY · +86% since 2010

Greenhouse gases (GHGRP large emitters, through 2023) concentrations are up 86% since 2010.

Top facilities · TRI 2024

Largest Emitters Inside The City

FacilityTop chemicalTotal releasesYoY
General Shale Brick INC Plant 42General Shale Brick INCHydrochloric acid (acid aerosols including mists, vapors, gas, fog, and other airborne forms of any particle size)Health riskAerosolized HCl is a corrosive respiratory irritant; chronic exposure damages teeth and respiratory tissue. (NIOSH)1k lb+20%
Drinking water · SDWIS

Water Systems Serving Spring City

10 unresolved violations on the SDWIS record across utilities serving this city.

SDWIS · 5-YR WINDOW
3

Utilities serving

SDWIS · 5-YR WINDOW
8,812

Population served

SDWIS · 5-YR WINDOW
0

Health-based · 5yr

SDWIS · 5-YR WINDOW
10

Unresolved

Water systemPWSIDPopulation servedHealth-based · 5yrStatus
North U.D. Of Rhea County MunicipalTN00009703,6400UNRESOLVED
Grandview Utility District MunicipalTN00008632,1870UNRESOLVED

Showing the 2 systems with recorded health-based or unresolved violations. 1 additional system is in compliance with no recorded health-based violations in the past 5 years and is not individually tabulated.

A public water systemis the regulated entity, not the city. EPA's SDWIS definition covers anything serving 25+ people for 60+ days a year or with 15+ service connections — that includes municipal utilities (City of Stockton), water districts, mobile home parks operating their own wells, schools, and small private subdivisions. Each system is independently monitored. Some systems serve multiple cities; some cities are served by many systems.

Equity context · ACS 2018-2022 · USEPA-clone EJ disparity

Who Lives In Spring City

Spring City, Tennessee (Census place block groups): 2,294 residents. Why we surface this →

POPULATION SHARE
19.6%

Low-income

POPULATION SHARE
6.5%

People of color

POPULATION SHARE
6.3%

Under age 5

POPULATION SHARE
24.3%

Over age 64

Source: Census ACS 2018-2022 (5-year) + USEPA-clone EJ blockgroup stats (raw indicators + EJ disparity mirror).

Health context

Co-Located Health Indicators

Modeled adult-prevalence estimates published by CDC PLACES, paired with this city's pollution and demographic context. Comparisons are ecological, not causal — pollution and disease prevalence covary at the area level, but the data does not attribute any individual's diagnosis to local exposure. How this section works →

Adult asthma (current)

BRFSS 2023
11.4%
+6% vs Tennessee mean+16% vs US mean

CDC PLACES · 2025 release · BRFSS 2022-2023

COPD prevalence

BRFSS 2023
13.3%
+36% vs Tennessee mean+86% vs US mean

CDC PLACES · 2025 release · BRFSS 2022-2023

Coronary heart disease

BRFSS 2023
10.5%
+18% vs Tennessee mean+32% vs US mean

CDC PLACES · 2025 release · BRFSS 2022-2023

Diabetes (diagnosed)

BRFSS 2023
17.9%
+11% vs Tennessee mean+26% vs US mean

CDC PLACES · 2025 release · BRFSS 2022-2023

Frequent mental distress

BRFSS 2023
19.9%
+13% vs Tennessee mean+37% vs US mean

CDC PLACES · 2025 release · BRFSS 2022-2023

PLACES uses BRFSS-modeled small-area estimates, not individual records. Crude prevalence shown above is the local rate as published; comparators are age-adjusted vs the Tennessee mean and the US mean — both population-weighted across counties — so geographies with different age structures stay apples-to-apples. Sources: CDC PLACES · 2025 release · BRFSS 2022-2023.

Sources.