The big chemical spill that contaminated the water supply of some 300,000 West Virginia residents earlier this month has raised a number of concerns in everyone’s mind: Is our water safe?
City and county officials said there is nothing to be worried about regarding a similar chemical spill contaminating Athens’ water supply because of how the city gets its water.
“Drinking water in Athens comes from groundwater unlike West Virginia, where they use surface water as a drinking water source,” said Andy Stone, the city’s engineer and the director of Public Works. “What we have here are wells, not reservoirs, which means if that kind of major leak ever happens here, it would not immediately leak to water.”
When asked about the potential effects of the chemical that was seeped into Elk River, W.Va., 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM), Charles Hammer, administrator of Athens County Health Department, said there are no known chronic illnesses that are caused by it.
“It is certainly an irritant,” he said. “But as far as I know it is not known to cause any disease. There may be some long-term effect or some kind of chronic illness. I don’t know.”
But on the flip side, these wells are vulnerable to long-term contamination, according to Stone.
“When any kind of pollutant gets down to the aquifer in wells, there’s no way but to close the well,” Stone said. “However, if such contamination happens in surface water, they can simply empty the reservoir and fill it back up.”
Stone admitted that there have been minor incidents of source water getting polluted in the past, “But whenever it happened, we caught them quickly before it reached the production well, where we get drinking water.
“We also have regular patrols on businesses and properties around the wellhead as well as we make sure what can and cannot take place around it.”
Still, Joy Darnell, an Athens resident who is a server at Union Street Diner, said it’s very scary to think that the population of Athens — approximately 24,000 people — could be at the risk of getting illnesses that are not even heard of.
“I’m very upset about it,” Darnell said. “I mean, I’m sure it will be safe to an extent but we are not gonna know what’s gonna happen, and we could be the one ruining the water for the next generation?”
@_ SuhyeonPark
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