One-third of customers have water [West Virginia]

[alp227]

Source: Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- About one-third of the West Virginia American Water customers affected by a do-not-use water advisory had been told they can use their tap water as of Tuesday evening, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said Tuesday night.

Officials said there is still no timeline to completely restore water to everyone in the nine counties affected by the leak of a coal-processing chemical into the Elk River last week. About 300,000 residents were under the advisory at its peak.

The water company told residents in parts of Charleston and South Charleston that they could flush the pipes in their homes on Monday. But by Tuesday evening, just three more areas, all in Kanawha County, had been added to that list.

Testing teams with the West Virginia National Guard and the water company found a handful of areas where test results showed levels of Crude MCHM -- the chemical that leaked from the Freedom Industries plant into the Elk -- above the 1-part-per-million level that officials say they're using to declare the water safe, officials said.

Read more: http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401140133

[Hubert Flottz]

1. All that sounds good, but those numbers could be greatly fudged...

You know how politicians tend to handle the truth kind of recklessly. It looks like the water is going to be off in West Virginia for a lot of people. And then there's the worry that the purity of the water is questionable at best, still funky as hell as worst. My "Zone" is one of the red headed stepchildren zones. But the bad news is, Liberty enterprises has moved the chemicals from the tank farm on Elk River, where the leak occurred, to a little community called Amandaville. The new location is about five miles from my home and it's very near two other rivers.

Here's the new story here.

http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/140114_22392.shtml

[Divernan]

2. And Bush's EPA told responders the air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe.

If you recall, within a few days of 9/11, Christie Whitman & the EPA were ordered by the chair (James Connaughton)of Bush's White House Council on Environmental Quality to materially alter reports re unsafe air quality on Gound Zero.

A major health study of 9/11 responders has found an increased risk of cancer, mirroring two prior investigations.

The federally sponsored study of almost 21,000 World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers found a 15 percent overall increased risk of cancer. The incidences of thyroid, prostate and blood, lymph and soft tissue cancers were much higher than expected, according to the study, published online Tuesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study was conducted from 2001 to 2008 by researchers associated with the federally funded World Trade Center Health Program.

All of those cancers except prostate cancer are covered under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Last year, about 60 types of cancer were added to the list of World Trade Center-related conditions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/23/911-first-responders-cancer-study_n_3136672.html

Similarly, there is tremendous political pressure to declare the water safe to use. Between the corruption of state officials and the inexperience/incompetence of the West Virginia National Guard when it comes to testing the water, and the tremendous lag time (around 10 years) between exposure and cancer evidencing itself, I suggest anyone who can afford it, continue using bottled water at least for drinking/cooking as long as possible.

[EastHarlemGayDude]

3. Except They Won't Tell WHY 1 PPM is Safe (http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401130090)

It is disgusting that this story does not dominate the news rather than this Christie soap opera. There are 300,000 people who can't use the water....not just can't drink...can't USE. The ironic thing is that this chemical is the chemical that is supposed to magically transform coal into "clean coal." There is no such thing as clean coal. We need to stop blowing up mountains and poisoning people. We need to pass the Ache Act (acheact.org).