Chemical Spill Fouls Water in West Virginia

[sharkboy1200]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/us/chemical-spill-fouls-water-in-w-virginia.html?_r=2

More than 100,000 customers were without safe tap water on Thursday after a chemical used to clean coal leaked into the Elk River in Charleston, W.Va., officials said.

West Virginia American Water warned residents in nine Charleston-area counties not to use the water. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency, urging people not to drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes in the water.

The spill happened at a storage facility about a mile north of a water treatment plant on the Elk River, where a 48,000-gallon tank began leaking 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol, or MCHM, a compound used to wash coal of impurities, the State Department of Environmental Protection said. The chemical spilled from a hole in the bottom of the tank and filled a container built to hold leaks before flowing into the river, Thomas J. Aluise, a spokesman for the agency, said.

Officials said they did not know how much of the chemical spilled into the river. Executives at Freedom Industries, the company that owns the storage tank, did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The warning affected customers in Boone, Cabell, Clay, Kanawha, Jackson, Lincoln, Logan, Roane and Putnam Counties.

Exposure to MCHM, which smells like licorice, can cause irritation of the skin, eyes and digestive tract, as well as breathing trouble. The chemical looked like “cooking oil floating on top of the water,” Mr. Aluise said.

Liza Cordeiro, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Education, said schools in at least five counties would be closed Friday.

Crazy stuff. Good luck to anyone in WV.

 

[Godsmack]

See my other aptly named thread....

Time to go to the grocery store... not looking forward to it...

 

[sharkboy1200]

See my other aptly named thread....

Time to go to the grocery store... not looking forward to it...

Dope! Forgot about it. Lack of sleep does that to you. Either way, I'll be pulling for you. Muscles that is. I'll be pulling muscles. "This is for Godsmack," is what I'll be thinking. To be fair though, this thread adds the visual aspect of it all. Heard a Walmart had to get police escorts for a truck containing water over concern for people going crazy. I have to wonder if people will be using that water exclusively for drinking. I'd be using it for baths exclusively in that situation. Plenty of other stuff on the rack to drink.

 

[Jarrod]

s*** this could turn out to be like the Roadwarrior instead of gas they battle for water.

 

[Godsmack]

Well, it wasn't too bad at the store. They had enough water to fill the ocean. Of course, I have a couple bottles already so I said to hell with it. I'll just drink juice and milk for now...and a bottle of wine tonight.

No way am I going through the trouble of getting bottled water to start washing things with. You need actual water pressure for that, otherwise it'd just waste the whole bottle.

 

[Z A C K]

I see nobody like orange or grape in West Virginia.