Thousands warned not to drink water after W. Va. spill

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...inia-water-chemical-spill-charleston/4407433/

State, feds declare a state of emergency as out-of-state water is trucked in.

West Virginia National Guard troops distributed bottled water trucked in from Maryland Friday after a chemical spill in the Elk River in Charleston contaminated the public water supply for as many as 300,000 people in nine counties.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin urged water customers in the southwest counties of Kanawha, Putnam, Jackson, Clay, Lincoln, Logan, Roane and Boone counties, as well as customers in the area of Culloden in Cabell County, to stop using water for everything but flushing toilets and fighting fires.

"Do not drink it. Do not cook with it. Do not wash clothes in it. Do not take a bath in it," Tomblin warned. "For safety, we would ask everyone -- this includes restaurants, hospitals, any institutions out there -- please do not use any tap water if you're a customer of West Virginia American Water."..........

As a licorice-like smell enveloped the capital, stores, restaurants schools and even the state legislature shut down.

Schools were also closed in five counties.

The emergency triggered a run on stores selling bottled water, including a Sam's Club that sold its 4,200 cases of water in an hour and a half, The Charleston Daily Mail reported. Store employees said they were unable to find any more water at stores in a 20-mile radius.

The sheriff's office in Kanawha county reported receiving about a dozen 911 calls after scuffles broke out over rapidly dwindling supplies. the Gazette reported. Police were asked to step up patrols around convenience stores.

More at link......

Wow! That has to be some serious type of chemical! I can't imagine not having water at all. Where I live, I could at least melt snow and boil it.

From the link:

Late Friday, West Virginia regulators ordered Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the leak, to cease operations until recovers the chemical from the river and tests storage tanks and containment structures for reliability.

It's unclear how much of the chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM), was spilled and how much of a hazard it poses.

Obama sends disaster aid to West Virginia

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theov...urce=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=384245

"The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of West Virginia and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts," said an administration statement on Friday morning.

Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency will coordinate efforts with local officials......

"The federal government joined the state early Friday in declaring a disaster, and the West Virginia National Guard planned to distribute bottled drinking water to emergency services agencies in the nine affected counties.......more.......

"Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin urged affected West Virginia American Water customers in Kanawha, Putnam, Jackson, Clay, Lincoln, Logan, Roane and Boone counties, as well as customers in the area of Culloden in Cabell County, to stop using water for everything other than flushing toilets and fire suppression.

"Do not drink it. Do not cook with it. Do not wash clothes in it. Do not take a bath in it," Tomblin said. "For safety, we would ask everyone -- this includes restaurants, hospitals, any institutions out there -- please do not use any tap water if you're a customer of West Virginia American Water."

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/News/breakingnews/201401090067

"Officials are not sure what threat the chemical spill poses to humans. Jimmy Glanato, director of the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the chemical — a coal-refining agent called MCHM — isn't lethal.

However, according to the Toxicology Data Network, high exposures to the chemical can cause death.


Crude MCHM, used in the coal refining and preparation process, leaked from a tank owned by Freedom Industries — a producer of chemicals for the mining, steel and cement industries — and overran a containment area on Thursday. Freedom Industries did not immediately respond for comment but said it would issue a statement later Friday on the spill.

West Virginia American Water has a treatment plant nearby. The company’s president, Jeff McIntyre, said the advisory affects up to 100,000 customers, or about 300,000 people."

http://america.aljazeera.com/articl...illpromptsstateofemergencyinwestvirginia.html

how terrifying for people in the area

and wild animals! they're at an alarming risk as well

"Tap water may be out for days after W.Va. chemical spill"

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/1...ptoms-in-w-va-after-crippling-chemical-spill/

Scary news. Those in West Va. Please use bottled water until you get an ok otherwise.

'We're not done!': Reporter corners arrogant CEO as he tries to avoid questions over chemical spillage that's left 300,000 people without water...while he brazenly drinks BOTTLED water on camera"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ter-brazenly-drinks-bottled-water-camera.html

I like this reporter, Kallie Cart....good for her. (This CEO is a real jacka$$, IMO)

"West Virginia chemical spill: Gov says tests are 'encouraging,' gives no timetable for water use"

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/1...ptoms-in-w-va-after-crippling-chemical-spill/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ade-chemical-spill-ravaged-West-Virginia.html

"Erin Brockovich heads to West Virginia in quest for answers over chemical spill that has left 300,000 without water"

"Hope flows as West Virginia water showing signs of improvement after chemical spill"

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...igns-of-improvement-after-chemical-spill?lite

"West Virginia lifts the ban on tap water after chemical spill as it emerges company with leak 'flew under the radar' for 20 years"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-tap-water-chemical-spill.html#ixzz2qM653Y80

"West Virginia chemical spill shines spotlight on loose regulation"

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/us/west-virigina-chemical-contamination/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

W. Va Chemical Leak Reaches Cincinnati

http://abcnews.go.com/t/blogentry?id=21535881&source=hp

"Wary business owners reopen in Charleston after hazardous spill"

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wary-businesses-reopen-in-charleston-after-hazardous-spill/

Thanks for all the news links, Blondie!

State ignored plan for tougher chemical oversight

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401120021

Three years ago this month, a team of federal experts urged the state of West Virginia to help the Kanawha Valley create a new program to prevent hazardous chemical accidents.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recommended the step after its extensive investigation of the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two workers at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute.

Since then, the proposal has gone nowhere. The state Department of Health and Human Resources hasn't stepped in to provide the legal authority the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department needs to start such a program. And Kanawha County officials never funded the plan, and seldom mention that the CSB recommendation was even made.......

But so far, neither the governor's office nor the DHHR have responded to a specific question from the Gazette about whether they would move to implement the CSB's recommendation.

The CSB's proposal for a new "Hazardous Chemical Release Prevention Program," was the central recommendation in the agency's lengthy report on the Bayer explosion. Board members repeated the recommendation again in September 2011, when they released a report on a series of accidents that killed one worker at the DuPont Co. plant in Belle.......

Under the board's recommendation, the DHHR would use its existing legal authority for rules governing "occupational and industrial health hazards" to assist the Kanawha-Charleston health agency in setting up the program - not just for the Kanawha Valley, but for industry across the state.

After the board's recommendations, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department embraced the proposal, but worried other important parties - the state and industry - would oppose it.......

More in 2p. article....

Photo of disgusting "bath water" at this link....

"Would you have a bath in this? Angry West Virginians post disturbing photos of discolored 'oily water' smelling of 'antifreeze' after last week's chemical spill"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...freeze-flowing-taps-weeks-chemical-spill.html

Blondie in Spokane said:

Photo of disgusting "bath water" at this link....

"Would you have a bath in this? Angry West Virginians post disturbing photos of discolored 'oily water' smelling of 'antifreeze' after last week's chemical spill"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...freeze-flowing-taps-weeks-chemical-spill.html

Click to expand...

The only think that I've seen people from that area saying about their water is that it looks normal, but SMELLS funny. And that's more scary than water that looks funny.

What the photos look like to me are pictures of pipes that haven't been used for a while being flushed out. Even if there are no chemicals in them, they will look dirty (hasn't anybody ever turned water back on in a home that has had it turned off for a while, to discover how dirty it is?)

I don't trust what people in the UK call "the Daily Fail" either.