Water crisis in West Virginia hits fifth day

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Workers at Freedom Industries continue through the night to empty storage tanks of chemicals into tanker trucks at it's plant in Charleston, Va., Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014. A chemical spill at the company has deprived 300,000 West Virginians of clean tap water for four days.(AP Photo/Steve Helber)

For the fifth straight day, hundreds of thousands of people in West Virginia had to wash, cook and brush their teeth with bottled water, but officials promised the ban on tap water that was tainted by a chemical spill would soon be lifted.

Over the weekend, tests showed that levels of the licorice-smelling chemical used in coal processing were consistently below a toxic threshold, and in some samples, there was no trace of the chemical at all. As the tests were expected to continue Monday, there were still questions about how and why the leak occurred and whether the company, Freedom Industries, took too long to let state officials know about the problem.

An interagency group working to restore water service and to provide water to customers planned to meet Monday morning, said Amy Shuler Goodwin, spokeswoman for the governor. The group includes the water company, National Guard and state officials.

If tests continue to show the water is safe, the ban affecting about 300,000 people across a nine-county region will be lifted in waves for specific areas, the first of which would be in downtown Charleston, said West Virginia American Water President Jeff McIntyre. He gave no timetable for when people could start using the water again.

"I can tell you at this point, I don't believe we're several days from starting to lift (the ban), but I'm not saying today," McIntyre said at a news conference Sunday.

"We see light at the end of the tunnel," Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin told reporters.

The governor urged residents not to use the water for anything but flushing toilets. Some people have put plastic bags around faucets so that they will be reminded not to use the water while others have left town to take a shower and find an open restaurant.

Water distribution centres have handed out bottled water and trucks with large tanks of water have filled up containers for people to take home. So far, only 10 people exposed to the contaminated water were admitted to the hospital, and none were in serious condition, Health and Human Resources Secretary Karen Bowling said.

The chemical, even in its most concentrated form, isn't deadly. However, people were told they shouldn't even wash their clothes in affected water, as the compound can cause symptoms ranging from skin irritation and rashes to vomiting and diarrhea.

Other than schools, day-care centres, hotels and many restaurants that will be closed Monday, the region was open for business, but foot traffic was slow. Stores and offices adjusted by providing bottled water and hand sanitizer. The governor said state government offices would be open Monday.

Lawmakers were to return to the Capitol on Monday after Friday's session was cut short because there wasn't any water. Their work now will likely include a look at how Freedom Industries flew under the regulatory radar.

Freedom Industries' tanks don't fall under an inspection program and the chemicals stored at the facility weren't considered hazardous enough to require environmental permitting. Essentially, Freedom Industries wasn't under state oversight at all, said Michael Dorsey, chief of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Homeland Security and Emergency Response office.

A leak in one of the company's 40,000 tanks containing the chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol is what caused the disruption in water service.

"In my world — I'm a hazmat guy — this stuff's below my radar screen until this happens," said Dorsey. "The tanks themselves, we don't have the regulatory authority to inspect those tanks."

There's already talk about changing that, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman said.

"We are working on some ideas right now," Huffman said. "I think a lot of folks will be calling for legislation and rightly so."

And there are signs that Freedom Industries did not respond appropriately. A state law requires immediate reporting, but Huffman said state environmental workers were on the spill site at 11:15 a.m. Thursday because of a call from the water company — not Freedom Industries.

The coal and chemical industries are major forces in the state's economy, providing thousands of jobs. West Virginia is the second-largest coal producing state, behind Wyoming, and the state has about 150 chemical companies.