West Virginia Chemical Spill into Elk River
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 10:11 pm
Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:18 pm
Thursday, January 9, 2014, about 10:00 AM, Charleston WV, people began calling the Water Authority complaining their tap water was blue and smelt of liquorice.
Just before 6 PM, say 5:55 PM, the order went out to over 300,000 people not to use tap water for anything but flushing toilets and putting out fires. Stores ran out of bottled water very quickly after that, and the National Guard was called out to bring in water.
When: The times are fuzzy here because officials and engineers were blocked from entering the storage area where the leak was occurring till management was dragged down there and told their employees to let them in and get out of the way. First reports say officials arrived at the facility about 10 AM and were informed there was no leak. The company says workers discovered the leak about 10:30 and began cleanup efforts. The EPA official report says they finally got to the site at 11:10 AM and there was no attempt at cleanup underway.
The orders to not drink, bathe or wash anything in tap water came "just before 6 PM" on Thursday.
Where: The Elk River, about 2.5 miles upstream from the junction of the Kanawha River in downtown Charleston, just upstream from the intakes for the regional plant of the West Virginia American Water Company, which supplies household water for upward of 300,000 people. Freedom Industries is located on the bank of the Elk River at 1015 Opportunity Ln
Charleston, WV 25311, 38.36868,-81.607546.
What: 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, used for "cleaning" coal, which had been stored in a 40,000 gallon tank and retention pond. About 5000 gallons leaked into the retention pond, and nobody knows exactly how much seeped through the dike and into the river.
Thursday, January 9, 2014, about 10:00 AM, Charleston WV, people began calling the Water Authority complaining their tap water was blue and smelt of liquorice.
Just before 6 PM, say 5:55 PM, the order went out to over 300,000 people not to use tap water for anything but flushing toilets and putting out fires. Stores ran out of bottled water very quickly after that, and the National Guard was called out to bring in water.
When: The times are fuzzy here because officials and engineers were blocked from entering the storage area where the leak was occurring till management was dragged down there and told their employees to let them in and get out of the way. First reports say officials arrived at the facility about 10 AM and were informed there was no leak. The company says workers discovered the leak about 10:30 and began cleanup efforts. The EPA official report says they finally got to the site at 11:10 AM and there was no attempt at cleanup underway.
The orders to not drink, bathe or wash anything in tap water came "just before 6 PM" on Thursday.
Where: The Elk River, about 2.5 miles upstream from the junction of the Kanawha River in downtown Charleston, just upstream from the intakes for the regional plant of the West Virginia American Water Company, which supplies household water for upward of 300,000 people. Freedom Industries is located on the bank of the Elk River at 1015 Opportunity Ln
Charleston, WV 25311, 38.36868,-81.607546.
What: 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, used for "cleaning" coal, which had been stored in a 40,000 gallon tank and retention pond. About 5000 gallons leaked into the retention pond, and nobody knows exactly how much seeped through the dike and into the river.