January 12, 2014
As hundreds of thousands of people in West Virginia are in the middle of their fourth day without clean tap water following a chemical spill, frustrations are mounting.
Most visitors have cleared out of Charleston while locals are either staying home or driving out of the area to find somewhere they can get a hot meal or a shower. Meanwhile, business owners with empty dining rooms and quiet aisles of merchandise around West Virginia’s capital were left to wonder how much of an economic hit they’ll take from the chemical spill.
Gov. Earl Tomblin said Sunday water tests were encouraging, but he didn’t give a timetable for when people might be able to use water again.
“The numbers look good. They are very encouraging,” Tomblin said.
Schools, restaurants and other businesses were to close Monday, but the governor said all state offices would be open.
Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, of the West Virginia National Guard, said testing near the water treatment facility has consistently been below one part per million for 24 hours, a key step officials needed before they can lift the ban. Some tests have shown the chemical was not present at all in water coming in and out of the plant.
West Virginia American Water President Jeff McIntyre said they will lift the water bans by zone, but he didn’t say how soon it would be.
The emergency began Thursday following complaints to West Virginia American Water about a licorice-type odor in the tap water. The source: the chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, which had leaked out of a 40,000-gallon tank at a Freedom Industries facility along the Elk River.