Freedumb! Diesel Spill Cuts Off Drinking Water to 12,000 West Virginia Residents

[hatrack]

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Al Whitaker, director of homeland security and emergency management for Greenbrier County, said the tanker truck was hauling 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel north on W.Va. 92, approximately 11 miles from White Sulphur Springs, when it was involved in a crash at about 11:30 p.m. Friday. Whitaker estimates the truck spilled “more than 3,500 gallons” of diesel fuel into a tributary stream that feeds Anthony Creek, which runs into the Greenbrier River.

Whitaker said environmental contractors began placing booms in Anthony Creek and the Greenbrier River Saturday. He said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials arrived at about midnight Saturday night and began taking water samples.

The Lewisburg water treatment plant, which Whitaker says is about 20 miles from the site of the spill, shut down when Carver learned of the spill at 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Though none of the contaminated water seeped into the water treatment plant, Carver said the plant can’t be brought back online until the EPA’s water quality tests indicate there is no diesel fuel at the water intake. Those test results won’t be back until sometime Monday.

Amanda McMichael, environmental health program supervisor for the Greenbrier County Heatlh Department, said around 100 restaurants and food service establishments in the affected area have been ordered to shut down until the water outage ends. She said restaurants that bring in potable water will be allowed to request conditional use permits starting Monday. Carver said the earliest the water treatment plant could be restarted is late Monday afternoon.

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http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/289495751.html

[Systematic Chaos]

1. When I lived on my aunt's property between Welch and Pineville in 1977-78...

...the water from the tap smelled like rotten eggs and tasted WAY worse! I know that had to have a lot to do with all the coal mines all over the place, and of course both my mother and my aunt were tobacco-addicted enough that they couldn't detect anything wrong.

I like drinking water, but living there made me milk- and soda- dependent. It was one of those, or nothing!