W.Va. residents still waiting for tap water

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JOHN RABY

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A company president apologized to West Virginia residents for a chemical leak that got into a public water treatment system, and a state agency ordered Freedom Industries to remove its remaining chemicals from the site.

About 300,000 people in nine counties entered their third day Saturday without being able to drink, bathe in, or wash dishes or clothes with their tap water. The only allowed use of the water was for flushing toilets.

Officials remain unclear when it might be safe again.

Federal authorities, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, began investigating how the foaming agent escaped from the Freedom Industries plant and seeped into the Elk River. Just how much of the chemical leaked into the river was not yet known.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140111/DAB8EV8O2.html

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Crews clean up a chemical spill along the Elk River in Charleston, W.Va., which compromised the public water supply of eight counties on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Tyler Evert)

[lastlib]

1. Buh-buh-buh but we gotta get rid of burdensome regulations......

becuz bad fer biznuss, an' freedum, an' Benghazi, an' Obama gunna take our gunz............!

[Vincardog]

10. Right those people should pull themselves up by their own water straps like the pioneers did.

Last edited Sat Jan 11, 2014, 09:27 PM - Edit history (1)

[Demo_Chris]

2. I understand what these people are not supposed to do, but remain confused about...

What it is that they are expected to do.

We aren't talking here about an afternoon without water. That would suck, and might be a pain in the ass if it caught you by surprise. I could see, for example, someone coming home from work covered in grease and dirt, perhaps a mechanic or plumber or miner, and they've been crawling through sewers or coal sludge, and there is no washing up before dinner or bed.

That would fucking suck, but shit happens. You just have to hope and pray that you told everyone.

But then what? Sorry, no laundry. You'll have to wear these crunchy socks again, and these dirty underwear. Sorry Tiffany, no shower before school, you cannot wash your hair. No, there's no coffee. There's no fucking coffee. That's the morning of the second day.

Now it's day three and no one knows anything. No one knows when it will be cleaned up, and no one knows if it will actually really be safe when they make that claim. It's not as if you can trust any of these assholes. So what are these people supposed to do in the meantime?

[jtuck004]

4. For 300,000 people, about 500,000 gallons of clean water per day, minimum.

Roughly 65 tanker tucks, with 8000 gallons each, dispersed across the area, 24x7, plus delivery to those who can't get out of their homes, such as people on fixed incomes, disabled, etc.

[Demo_Chris]

6. Right, and there we are talking minimums...

Obviously you are not going to immediately perish if you don't get your gallon a day, but what the hell.

If they cannot provide a concrete answer, as in it will be cleaned up within a day or two, then the Federal government needs to step in and move these people.

[PatrynXX]

7. better break out the iced mocha

mix that in milk or instant coffee in milk. thats the only temp fix there. just to get those grains down. But yeah don't we make movies of people who can't wash for certain days. Oh but it's to make money..

[CanonRay]

3. Call me crazy

but isn't it just really stupid to have chemical just about hanging over a water source? I mean, really, c'mon people. Think.

[underpants]

5. 6 blocks upstream

I looked this up yesterday. My family lives in Huntington - they have clean water my mom was able to finally find out yesterday.

Freedom Industries (seriously that is the name)
is at 1015 Barlow Drive in Charleston

WV American Water is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (seriously that is the address) just down stream

[durablend]

8. Betcha any amount that Obamacare is behind the spill

Since according to Fox it's the root of nearly all evil!

(any info on this "Freedom Industries"? Who owns it, who they donate $ to, etc?)

[Garion_55]

9. Why are they waiting on big government to solve their problems?

Go out and get water dont wait on the government to do it for you! whats wrong with these people?

[Lasher]

11. Here's an on-the-spot exclusive DU report

I'm one of the 300K people whose water has been poisoned.

I'm in pretty good shape here out in the rural setting where I live. We've got a creek running across our property where I've just set up a pipe for it to run through. Now we can fill buckets and other containers from there. That stream doesn't run all year, but its drainage is all through forested acreage that we own. There's no cattle, human sewage, or nitrogen fertilizer to pollute it, so it's safe for drinking and all other purposes. I've drunk water from it all my life. There's a couple of flowing artesian wells nearby. Water quality there is as good as it gets, but I won't need to go there because I have plenty of safe water right here.

We can use our 'city' water for flushing toilets, but for nothing else at all. I just finished cooking 5 gallons of my famous deer stew, so I've got a big mess in the kitchen to clean up. I'll be doing that the old fashioned way, without the dishwasher. I've been heating water with my propane burner that I use for deep frying turkeys. It heats a lot of water real fast.

Most other folks are having a more difficult time. Restaurants are closed. Hospitals are struggling to keep up.

This morning my mother just delivered a case of 24 plastic bottles of drinking water, provided free by FEMA. Thank you, Mr President! She picked it up at our local church that's serving as a distribution point. I don't really need it as I've said, but I'll take it.