Many Remain Wary Of West Virginia Water As Smell Lingers
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The smell lingers - the slightly sweet, slightly bitter odor of a chemical that contaminated the water supply of West Virginia's capital more than a week ago. It creeps out of faucets and shower heads. It wafts from the Elk River, the site of the spill. Sometimes it hangs in the cold nighttime air.
For several days, a majority of Charleston-area residents have been told their water is safe to drink, that the concentration of a chemical used to wash coal is so low that it won't be harmful. Restaurants have reopened - using tap water to wash dishes and produce, clean out their soda fountains and make ice.
But as long as people can still smell it, they're wary - and given the lack of knowledge about the chemical known as MCHM, some experts say their caution is justified.
"I would certainly be waiting until I couldn't smell it anymore, certainly to be drinking it," said Richard Denison, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund who has followed the spill closely. "I don't blame people at all for raising questions and wondering whether they can trust what's being told to them."
The Jan. 9 spill from a Freedom Industries facility on the banks of the Elk River, less than 2 miles upstream from Charleston's water treatment plant, led to a ban on water use that affected 300,000 people.
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If you can smell it, you are drinking it!!!
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