State of emergency in West Virgina - Chemical spill (affecting 9 counties).

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The West Virginia National Guard is working hard to get supplies to those affected by the water contamination.

Nine counties are currently under a state of emergency after a chemical leak in Kanawha County Thursday morning.

A plane was sent to Martinsburg as soon as the state of emergency was declared.

The plane plans to connect with FEMA and have a full supply of water available by Friday morning.

Members of the national guard tell WSAZ.com that they are always prepared for these types of emergencies.

"This is the same thing that we have done before we did it during the Derecho, we did it during Sandy, this is what we train for it's not two weeks a year or one weekend a month this is what train for to happe

State of emergency in West Virgina - Chemical spill (affecting 9 counties).

I am a few miles from the West Virgina state line. A state of emergency has been declared by Governer Tomblin after a chemical spill on the Elk River has gotten into the water supply. A spill of 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol leaked into the Elk River and has spread through the water supply in up to 9 counties (Kanawha, Cabell, Boone, Putnam, Lincoln, Logan, Clay, Roane and Jackson). Apparently the leak was discovered after a licorice smell was noticed.

We knew about it several hours ago when the warning went out to five counties, but it has made it to national news in the last hour or so. 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol is apparently a foaming agent used in cleaning coal (i may need to be corrected on that). Citizens are warned not to drink or even come in contact with the water (no bathing, brushing teeth, etc). The Army National guard is bringing water to the affected areas which. Around 300,000 people in those affected areas.


The original warning only went out to five counties and because of that many people in surrounding counties have ingested the contaminated water. I know three people that have ingested the water. One friend posted on facebook that she was drinking a glass of water and thought it tasted like cough syrup and another co worker noticed the same thing. Another friend had used it to make coffee. Since then the alert has been expanded from the five original counties to four others (nine total).

National news source: FOX News

s&F

whose fault is it?

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Scary stuff. Any word on what it might do to anyone who's ingested it?

reply to post by gardener


I'm not sure yet. I'll find out. I actually work part time at a coal dock with the barges. This weather and the freezing river has caused many barges to break loose or become stuck in the ice so it might not be negligence. I expect a big class action though considering how widespread it is and the fact that they didn't send the warning out far enough and people in neighboring counties were drinking the water. It happened near Charleston and the people I know that had drank the water were from Huntington (about an hour from Charleston).

reply to post by westcoast


I have been trying to find out. I wanted to find out what problems might arise because friends had consumed it. I know I would be very concerned if my water tasted the cough syrup and I found out there was a nearby chemical spill warranting a state of emergency.

If they are saying it's not even safe to wash your clothes with.. I imagine it's fairly dangerous. Anyone that might be more familiar with the chemical, feel free to chime in.

gardener
s&F

whose fault is it?

LOL!

Sorry, had to.

westcoast
reply to post by GogoVicMorrow

 

Scary stuff. Any word on what it might do to anyone who's ingested it?

"I don't know if the water is not safe," said water company president Jeff McIntyre.

Haha, how is that for instilling confidence?

I found a newer article with a bit of more information about the chemical and the possible hazards. Sounds like they believe it will be diluted enough, that it shouldn't be too much of an issue. At worse, an irritant:

link


And I have to wonder at the picture in your linked article. WHY oh why would they put those containers right on the edge of the river??!

All those booming sounds in Virginia over the past week and now a chemical spill.

It's getting busy over there! I wonder if there is any link between the two?

reply to post by westcoast


Yeah I had read that some people close to the spill had irritated eyes. Don't know what would happen if they drink it.

I would guess the containers are close to the river so they could be loaded on to barges or they were offloaded from barges. That area is full of barges with all the coal mines and the oil refinery.

reply to post by antoinemarionette


Different state. This is West Virginia. I'm not familiar with booming sounds in Virginia though.

Previously posted here by another local. I say you two team up and expose this as the harbinger of a zombie apocalypse.

reply to post by Thorneblood


Yeah I didn't see it until after I posted it. I figured it would be in breaking news, but they allow one in breaking news and one in another forum. I only decided to post when they expanded it to 9 counties and it broke nationally.

I believe it will take only around 5 days for the majority of it to dissipate. If you consumed enough to worry about, you'd know it. Besides that it seems like action on behalf of the National Guard should mitigate any risks.

reply to post by westcoast


Reply to your link

So the Kanawa County Emergency Manager said "The solution to pollution is dilution."
Unfarking believable, I would have thought that the solution to pollution is don't f'ing do it in the first place I.e. PREVENTION, commonly being accepted as being better than cure!
And surely having failed to prevent it, containment would be a good start - resilience in your systems, if the river is going to freeze empty the bloody barges before it does, it can't be a one-off natural phenomena water freezing? Also, react quicker and communicate wider, it's liquid pollution not dog crap sat on a carpet, it's going to go with the flow you cretins.
Also, if it's just classed as an irritant for some obscure reason, that does not make things any better.

reply to post by Shuftystick


MSDS

Some questions:
1. Everyone drinks water directly from the river?
2. Water companies were mentioned in other threads, is there no test for smell or organics?
3. Has anyone seen a number on how much was spilled ?
4. Where will it reach the Atlantic ? Gulf of Mexico Elk River then Kanawha River then The Ohio River then the Mississippi ....
5. Fish kill ? Birds ? Farm animals ?

reply to post by donlashway


Nearly all rivers in West Virginia end up in the Ohio river and eventually the Mississippi.
I think the New River is the only one that ends up going to the Atlantic.
I pity West Virginia, that poor state has more toxic sites, spills than you can shake a stick at.
Coal was once king and provided jobs now all that's left is the mess and a many missing mountain tops.

Take care people of WV

Freedom Inc. is the company responsible for the spill. They, as far as I've seen on the news, are taking no responsibility, putting it all on the water company. We didn't even get our call from the water company until 1:30 this morning. My girlfriend works in Charleston. She had drank a glass of water that she said smelled like bad licorice before any announced it. There are a lot of pissed off people right now. They took their sweet time getting the word out.

Update: Cabell County was added to the list (only American Water customers). That means Huntington W.V. and also means all those Huntington friends that were drinking water that tasted like cough syrup were drinking contaminated water.

Also they have shut everyone's water off to keep them from using it. A lot of people have been drinking the water unnecessarily because the government and water company didn't send the warning out to every county that was supplied by that water and company.