Chemical Spill Contaminates Tap Water in West Virginia – Closes Schools And Businesses
A chemical spill on 1/10/14 in the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia has contaminated the water supply and has led to the closing of schools and businesses.
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for nine counties and health officials have advised residents to use tap water only for flushing toilets and fighting fires.
“West Virginians in the affected service areas are urged not to use tap water for drinking, cooking, washing or bathing,” Gov. Tomblin said in a statement. “Right now, our priorities are our hospitals, nursing homes and schools.”
Emergency workers were transporting water to distribution centers in the affected counties, according to the Charleston Gazette.
At a Kroger supermarket in Kanawha City, a Charleston police officer stood guard as shoppers stocked up on bottled water.
“People have been grabbing it like crazy,” Kerstin Halstead told the newspaper as she loaded two cases of water into her SUV. “Some people were getting – well, they could have shared more.”
President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.
The leaked chemical, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, is harmful if swallowed, said Thomas Aluise, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. It is used to wash coal before it goes to market.
Jordan, the water company spokeswoman, said she first suspected something was amiss Thursday morning when she noticed an odor like licorice in the air en route to work.
The Department of Environmental Protection and the Emergency Operations Center investigated, and they found the spill coming from a 48,000-gallon tank at Freedom Industries, a chemical storage facility about a mile upriver from the West Virginia American Water plant.
A toxicologist with Freedom Industries told the water company there is “some health risk” associated with this chemical, Jordan said…
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