Post date: Jan 12, 2014 12:59:26 AM
Emergency workers distribute water in affected areas of West Virginia, as tests show that the levels of chemicals in the water system are declining.
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 11, 2014) (NBC) - Up to 300,000 West Virginia residents spent a second night unable to bathe, shower or drink tap water on Saturday (January 11) after a chemical spill into the Elk River near the state capital of Charleston, although chemical levels were declining.
As much as 5,000 gallons (18,927 liters) of industrial chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or Crude MCHM, leaked into the river on Thursday (January 9), Governor Earl Ray Tomblin told CNN.He declared a state of emergency for nine counties on Friday (January 10), and President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration. The spill forced schools and businesses to close in Charleston, West Virginia's largest city.
Tomblin said that hourly tests on the affected water supply show "the chemical level is declining".
Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water Co, which runs the state's largest water treatment plant, also said he could not say when the water would be safe to use.
Water carrying this chemical has an odor like licorice or anise, McIntyre said, and though not highly lethal, the level that could be considered safe has yet to be quantified.
Emergency workers and American Water distributed water to centers around the affected area. Residents formed long lines at stores and quickly depleted inventories of bottled water.
By Friday evening, 737 people had called the West Virginia Poison Center to report concerns or symptoms related to the spill, water company spokeswoman Elizabeth Scharman said.
Symptoms included nausea, vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, rashes and reddened skin "varying from very mild to much more bothersome", Scharman said.
The center knew of 70 people who had been seen by an emergency room doctor, though only a handful had been admitted to hospitals, she said.
The spill came from a tank belonging to Freedom Industries - a Charleston company that produces specialty chemicals for the mining, steel and cement industries - upriver from a plant run by West Virginia American Water.
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had received a report of a strange odor on Thursday morning and visited the site, where they found a leaking tank, a spokeswoman for Governor Tomblin said.
Freedom Industries President Gary Southern said the company was still determining how much had leaked and that the company has been working with local and federal authorities, and apologized at a media conference in Charleston.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Friday waived size and weight restrictions for trucks to expedite delivery of water, equipment and supplies.