Water Supply

I see the West Virginia chemical spill is slated to pass by L'Ville on later this week and the water department assures that all is OK. I realize it is way further upstream and more vulnerable to higher concentrations of the toxins, but I read that Cincinnati is closing their water intake valves for a period of time until the spill passes. That seems prudent to me. That said, are any of you making any personal contingency plans and perhaps more importantly, are any of the restaurants implementing any contingency planning??

I realize the water company has given assurances that the water is safe, but I clearly see black helicopter on my radar screen.

[Robin Garr]

We've always been told that the additional 100 miles or so of Big River between here and Cincinnati acts as a significant diluter and purifier, but yes, this does assume a certain blind faith in the system.

We're not all worked up about it over here at HotBytes Central, but I'm pretty damn sure I won't drink the water if I can smell licorice in it. Not unless there is Pernod or ouzo in my glass, anyway!

As a board member of Kentucky Waterways Alliance I reached out to one of our staff science and policy guys about this very question, because I was understandably concerned about the water and possible consequences for my toddler daughter. He said...

Doug, that's actually a good question. The basic answer is two fold. First, although the chemical is "dissolved" in water, the actual chemical structure of the certain elements and their ions may still remain. Basically, it's not fully soluble in water, similar to many other alcohols.

Second, the way the filtration system works: http://www.ket.org/education/video/ktun ... 000002.htm

Instead of taking water directly from the river, it takes it from the groundwater system/aquifer. Here, that typically means pulling it from a sand-gravel filled aquifer (not a big cavern 1500 feet underground). The natural sand and gravel is tightly packed. When any sort of microbes or contaminants move from the body of the Ohio River into the groundwater system in the adjacent riverbank, the tightness of the pore space between the sand and gravel prevents the larger microbes and chemicals from moving through, but the water can still move through.

To take it a step further, some of these filtration systems actually use good microbes to "eat" the contaminants that get left behind.

When the water company pulls the water out of the aquifer, it takes it through another series of treatment processes before it sends it out to customers.

The reason it got into the system in Charleston is that they didn't know about it until too late, and too late means that one of their treatment processes was overloaded with the chemical before they knew it. They could have turned off their intake, or they could have modified the intake rate and shifted things a bit to ensure adequate treatment, but they simply didn't get the chance because they were notified too late.

That help?

That said, are any of you making any personal contingency plans.

25 years as an air traffic controller taught me to -always- have a contingency plan, it's a habit I carry over to my personal life. So no, I'm not worried.

That said, are any of you making any personal contingency plans.

25 years as an air traffic controller taught me to -always- have a contingency plan, it's a habit I carry over to my personal life. So no, I'm not worried.

Yeah, but do you have a back-up to that contingency plan?

That said, are any of you making any personal contingency plans.

25 years as an air traffic controller taught me to -always- have a contingency plan, it's a habit I carry over to my personal life. So no, I'm not worried.

Yeah, but do you have a back-up to that contingency plan?

Yes....yes I do.

I'm not concerned. I specialized in water resources in grad school and now work as an engineer with an emphasis in water resources, so I have some knowledge to back this up. And I still have the "Principals of Surface Water Quality Modeling and Control" book from the surface water quality course I took in college within easy reach where I'm sitting right now. While I don't work in potable water treatment, I do have experience with industrial discharges into rivers, understand the toxicity from containments in water, and have had to interpret contaminant testing results for surface water.

We're far enough downstream and the Ohio River is a large enough body of water that the concentration of MCHM will be extremely low. Further, LWC's Payne Plant near Prospect utilizes riverbank infiltration at the intake (i.e., the intake isn't pulling in water directly from the Ohio River, itis taking in groundwater 150 feet below the river). LWC can utilize water from this location instead from the surface water intake at Zorn Avenue to meet average daily demand. And per EPA requirements for water utilities of this size, LWC has a lab that operates continuously to test that all contaminants remain below the EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels.

On a related note, I've also completed EPA reporting for chemical storage at a dozen or so industrial facilities in West Virginia. Regulations in the state are lax and enforcement is even more lax, so it should come as a surprise to no one that a spill like this occurred.

I'm in Charleston at this very moment having left Louisville early this morning to be at a 9:00 meeting. People are in the process of flushing their water pipes. We haven't yet received clearance to use the water yet although we are assured that will happen later today. The smell of licorice is still lingering.

The economic fallout will be significant. In a state of only about 1.8 million, an area affecting 300,000, and most of that being in Charleston, will leave its mark. Its a rather gloomy ambiance, kind of like after someone dies.

[Robin Garr]

The economic fallout will be significant. In a state of only about 1.8 million, an area affecting 300,000, and most of that being in Charleston, will leave its mark. Its a rather gloomy ambiance, kind of like after someone dies.

But will anybody go to jail? Be held personally financially responsible? I am not holding my breath.

Regulations in the state are lax and enforcement is even more lax, so it should come as a surprise to no one that a spill like this occurred.

We're talking West Virginia here, of course no one was surprised.

[Robin Garr]

We're talking West Virginia here, of course no one was surprised.

Could a been Kentucky. Or, if you p!$$ off the governor, New Jersey.

It a strange sight when Burger King, Subway, etc. are all closed. I had to drive past many places to find a limited menu. This is no joke, folks. People are fatigued and disgusted.

Well that sure as hell didn't take long...

"The company blamed for a chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginians without safe drinking water filed for bankruptcy Friday, temporarily shielding them from dozens of lawsuits, most by businesses that were forced to shut down for days"...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/17/co ... cal-spill/