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In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss the Elk River chemical spill that occurred in West Virginia in 2014. A chemical storage tank leaked 10,000 gallons of chemicals into the river, contaminating the drinking water for around 300,000 residents. The chemical had a strong odor and caused adverse health effects. The state issued a state of emergency and residents faced difficulties in accessing clean water. The CDC initially stated that the water was safe to drink, but there were concerns about the methodology used to test the water. West Virginia has a history of poor water management and violations of water quality laws. The most vulnerable communities, including people of color and low-income individuals, face the highest percentage of water security infractions. Charleston County, the most affected by the spill, has a high percentage of people of color and low median household incomes. Small community water systems in West Virginia often fail to maintain infrastructure and comply Hello, everyone, and welcome to Water Talks, our podcast where we discuss past, present, and future water issues. My name is Phoebe, and shortly you will be hearing from our other members, Luke and Floor. In today's episode, we'll be taking a look at Elk River, West Virginia, a 172-mile tributary of the Kanawha River. The Elk River, or the Lady, called by locals, drains around 1,500 square miles in central West Virginia and into the western Allegheny Mountains. The Elk River is known as paradise for trout fishery and fly fishermen. However, on January 9th, 2014, that all changed. Inspectors from Freedom Industries, located in Charleston, West Virginia, discovered that one of their above-ground chemical storage tanks had been leaking a stream of a chemical mixture, 10,000 gallons to be exact, into the river that provides drinking water to around 300,000 West Virginia residents. Angie Roser, who lived near the Elk River, gave her insight during a live news report from C-SPAN. The effect of that leaking tank was profound. This wasn't the first time we had seen a contamination event, but it was certainly the first time we saw it on this grand of scale, and affecting this many people, and the people who are affected, which was everyone. It was from everyone from every economic class, and centered around the Kanawha River, and where the Elk meets, it's one of the most densely populated areas. So, Charleston and the Kanawha Valley have been coined as chemical valleys because there have been a lot of large-scale chemical plants along the Kanawha River. The chemical known as 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol and propylene glycol phenol ether are industrial chemicals used in frost flotation, a separation process used to remove impurities from coal. Roser continues to explain her first-hand experience. It was many, many citizens' complaints that triggered action, because this chemical, MCHM, had an odor to it that smelled like licorice, and had a sweet smell, and people near those tanks driving by had picked up on the smell and reported it. That led, eventually, to the company reporting the leak to state authorities. People had this chemical coming out of their taps, out of their showers, and were exposed to it, and that led to the state of these beds. A state of emergency was issued quickly by Governor Earl Ray Toblin with a do-not-drink, bathe, cook, or wash clothes with tap water order for nine counties in the Kanawha Valley. Residents, however, were quick to show their anger and anxiety in coping with the incident. Businesses and schools were shut down. Cook Lily, a 71-year-old resident, stated, It's worrying me so much, I'm having chest pain. Store shelves were quickly stripped of bottled water and traffic grew as drivers waited to fill their jugs from tankers delivered by the National Guard. Unfortunately, residents were right to have anxiety soon after the negative health outcome showed to be consistent with water contamination. The day after the spill, the CDC stated short-term exposure levels of MCHM were not likely to be associated with any adverse health effects, which established a screening level at which the do-not-use water order could be lifted. However, before that could even be considered, emergency departments need to deal with a herd of 600 residents that claim to have symptoms from the contaminated water. The West Virginia Poison Center had also received calls from residents stating they were experiencing vomiting, nausea, rash, and headaches. It was a pretty strong connection that health departments were trying to collect data around the range of symptoms. About one in three people reported experiencing some kind of physical symptoms due to the exposure to the chemical. However, around that time, limited toxicological data was available about MCHM to support any claims that it even had any acute health effects in humans. Plus, MCHM exposure among these emergency department patients was not well described. Studies conducted on rats back in 2017 were used to determine these health effects and shown that MCHM had effects on the liver, kidney, and red blood cells, specifically stating concentrations of MCHM resulting from the chemical spill were based on the health effects seen in the study with rats, including skin, eye, and respiratory tract irritation. However, many of the health concerns arose after enacting West Virginia's plan to remove the contaminants from people's taps. West Virginia health and government officials directed residents to start flushing their water systems in order to remove contaminants. Many residents complied with this order, however, some decided not to after concerns arose about adverse health effects from flushing procedures. Many homeowners stated no intention of flushing for the foreseeable future. Luckily, 96% of the people who reported symptoms from contamination in the flushing procedure were treated and released and only 4% were admitted with no deaths reported. Ed Rabel, an award-winning journalist with CBS on the Elk River Chemical Spill said, It was announced by state and federal partners that the water was safe to consume after the flushing process. In the late evening of January 15th, information was released from the CDC cautioning pregnant women to continue to use bottled water. There were a number of well-regarded experts that publicly disagreed with the methodology that was being used to test the overall safety of our water supply, and some also challenged the CDC screening levels for MCHM. On February 5th, in a press conference, CDC officials stated that the water was appropriate to drink. The use of the word appropriate frustrated my community and the media, which was already growing increasingly distracted by the state and federal response to the spill. And so there was a growing scene of unrest regarding whether or not it made sense to trust what was being said at any level of government regarding the actual safety of our water. The state of West Virginia is notorious for having some of the poorest water management systems across the entire continental United States. In 2019, a new study called Watered Down Justice found more than half of West Virginia counties ranked among the worst in the nation for violations of a federal law that protects the quality of drinking water in the United States. This study was conducted by the National Resource Defense Council, Coming Clean, and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Within this study, it was found at the county level, as people of color, low-income people, non-native English speakers, and crowded conditions and or sparse access to transportation increased, the rate of drinking water violations also increased. Similarly, the analysis also revealed that race, ethnicity, or language spoken had the strongest relationship to slow and inadequate enforcement of the FDWA of any sociodemographic characteristic analyzed. This study provides empirical data to conclude that the most vulnerable communities in the United States face the highest percentage of water security infractions. Census data borrowed from DataUSA.io shows that West Virginia as a whole is home to approximately 92% white people, 3% black people, and 2.5% Hispanic people. As you can see, West Virginia is predominantly home to white families. However, the county which was affected the most by the 2014 Elk River contamination spill, Charleston County, boasts the highest percentage of people of color per county in West Virginia. People of color make up about 20% of the county's residents, or 10,000 people. Not only this, but Charleston County ranks 53rd out of 55 for West Virginia's median household incomes by county. Many of these community members have become more reliant on bottled water to fill their essential needs as a result of the chemical spill. These communities are made to suffer as now they must worry even more about the financial burden that water puts on their already small budget. We can clearly see that Charleston County is one of the most vulnerable of all West Virginia counties. As defined by the World Health Organization, vulnerability is the degree to which a population, individual, or organization is unable to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the impacts of disasters. Vulnerability is socially constructed and it arises out of the social and economic circumstances of everyday living. A 2019 National Resource Defense Council report shows that the drinking water systems in counties with greater racial, ethnic, and language vulnerability tended to spend more time out of compliance with the law for more violations for more contaminants. Although the average number of formal enforcement actions increased as racial, ethnic, and language vulnerability increased at the county level, violations remained uncorrected. That means that as racial, ethnic, and language vulnerability increases in a county, long-term noncompliance and weak enforcement also increase. Many small systems like those in West Virginia do not have the capacity to maintain and improve their infrastructure, identify and address threats to drinking water, hire experienced and highly trained engineering staff, and comply with current EPA standards. The EPA has noted that vulnerable, overburdened, and economically distressed communities may face disproportionate hazards and lack the resources or capacity to address them. And many small systems are likely to serve low-income, vulnerable populations such as those in Austin County, West Virginia. Small, often rural community water systems were among the top offenders, along with systems responsible for serving communities of color in low socioeconomic conditions. In West Virginia, where much of the state's residents live rurally, many people depend on such small community water systems. Why do these small systems fail, and what are some examples of how they are commonly exploited? Firstly, current monitoring rules allow systems to avoid detection of contaminants. Under EPA monitoring rules, water utilities can intentionally or unintentionally test water in ways that would decrease the likelihood of finding a regulated contaminant. For example, systems can monitor seasonal pesticides right before those pesticides are applied to fields, rather than at the peak of application, which would be more health protective. As you can see, this would skew the results of said study. Secondly, data on drinking water violations are woefully incomplete. The EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System, or SDWIS, logs SDWA violations. Although states are required to report drinking water system information to the SDWIS, audits of the system show that states often fail to report many violations. Although no recent analysis of data quality has been made public, a 2017 report by the Inspector General found that, although the EPA is working to improve the tools and mechanisms it uses to evaluate state and system compliance with the law, its data collection efforts remain inconsistent, incomplete, and unreliable, limiting the agency's ability to manage a nationally consistent drinking water oversight program. And finally, system administrators have little chance of getting caught for falsifying data. After a public audit of the national water systems in 2004, the EPA Inspector General found that 18% of data collection was questionable and 12% of the data was invalid or falsified. It remains unclear whether those percentages have changed for the better or worse because those public audit values have not been updated, but the EPA has not insisted that states implement programs that can determine the integrity of the data submitted. Many have voiced their concerns with West Virginia's state government's handling of water safety. Ed Rabel continues to explain. They have these huge tanks containing harmful chemicals. They are built on the very edge of the waterways that we depend on for drinking water, taking baths, putting out fires, and what has brought us to this point, where a hole at the bottom of a chemical tank, undetected due to deer selection, by a company cleaning coal can shut down our major population centers, close our schools, terrify our residents, and threaten people to the hospital. I mean, what on earth are we thinking? What are we doing here? Especially, you know, we have pledged to the people of West Virginia that we will protect them and their lives. And then something like this happens, and once again, there's a huge problem not only with the private sector, but also with the government as well. The problem with creating legislation regarding water protection in West Virginia is the state's deep historical connections with the coal mining industry. Most of West Virginia's economy is reliant on coal mining and coal production. West Virginia's political bodies are not as concerned with protecting its people, especially minority communities, at the cost of their main economic venture. Similarly, the people in these communities are stuck in a lose-lose situation, sort of a catch-22. They want more protection for their water sources and overall health of community members, but they don't want to see the coal mining industry suffer. Many of these people depend on this industry for jobs and income, so they worry that if more strict regulations are put into place, their livelihoods will suffer as a result. Here I will list some following fields in which West Virginia's water governance can and needs to improve. The Watered Down Justice Report I referenced earlier has also provided some examples of how systems such as West Virginia's can improve. Firstly, they can prevent water contamination. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund Statute, Clean Water Act, and other laws give the EPA and state clear responsibility and many tools to prevent contamination and violation, but they too often fail to use them. The FDWA also should be strengthened to require comprehensive and enforceable source water protection measures. Secondly, we need to strengthen small systems. As the EPA itself notes, small community water systems and tribal systems are often disproportionately impacted by technical, managerial, and financial capacity challenges. Many of these systems serve environmental justice communities. The EPA and states should work with affected communities to strengthen and support the capacity of these systems to meet FDWA requirements and maintain safe drinking water, including restructuring small systems with serious or longstanding violations, or exploring partnering or consolidating them with nearby systems with greater capacity. Finally, the EPA needs to enforce their laws. Laws and regulations are meaningless without full implementation and enforcement. The EPA and states should improve enforcement to include incentives and support for water utilities willing to acknowledge problems and work in good faith to solve them. Meaningful consequences for systems in willful violation, including tough penalties for falsified data, obfuscation, or refusal to remedy violations promptly, should also be used. States and the EPA must be held accountable for full enforcement of the FDWA and our nation's civil rights laws. Ultimately, the only way that change will occur in West Virginia is if the EPA gets involved, because West Virginia's state government does not put a high focus on protecting the water sources for its community members. Dr. Rahul Gupta, a health officer and executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, gives us insight on such. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Are you done? Yeah. Go for it. All right. It is important to emphasize that this particular... You got it. We're so close. We should just add a whole blooper reel. In three minutes, it would just us laughing. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Got it. It is important to emphasize that this particular event has brought forth two important national issues of public health significance, which are not only limited to West Virginia. Drinking water protections and the reform of the Toxic Substance Control Act. Public health agencies and organizations need to do a better understand and assist in shaping legislation and policies on both of these fronts. As a general takeaway, I would add that local public health must always make its decisions based on good science and not be afraid to be upfront and honest when adequate science is unavailable. I also believe that additional staff training and education are needed in several areas, including the psychological aspects of emergency response and the use of social media, including but not necessarily limited to best practices in times of an emergency. In latter news, some justice was served when former owners of Freedom Industries, Charles Herzing and William Pitts, pled guilty to the unlawful discharge of Refuse Matter and direct violation of the Refuse Act, while others pled guilty in violation of the Clean Water Act and failing to have a pollution prevention plan. Ultimately, West Virginia's government has failed its residents in providing them with safe, portable drinking water, the irresponsible management of storage facilities of MCHM, an unsafe method of flushing to rid the system of these contaminants, the blatant disregard for its population of people of color and surrounding communities, and the failure to adopt new legislation and regulations to prevent future contamination leaks all contribute to a worrisome hydrosocial system. Residents of these communities are distrustful of their government to adequately protect their water sources. As such, many have become more reliant on bottled water to satisfy their basic needs. That is all. Thank you for listening to Water Talks.