State Lifts Do-Not-Use Order for Paden City Water
Shelley Hanson Trending
PADEN CITY -- The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau of Public Health has lifted a do not consume/use order for Paden City's water, said Mayor Steve Kastigar on Tuesday.
For about the past three weeks, residents and businesses have not been able to consume or use the city's water for bathing or washing clothes or dishes because it became tainted with tetracholroethylene, aka PCE.
A power outage caused by a transformer explosion and subsequent bypass valve malfunction led to the chemical entering the water system. It took the city flushing out the system multiple times to get rid of the PCE.
The city needed to have three consecutive good water test samples, below allowable limits, in order for the order to be lifted by the DHHR.
"We're definitely happy for the town and the townspeople. They can get back to life as normal," he said.
Kastigar said the next step is for the city to connect the air stripper, which is the device used to remove the PCE from the water, to an existing generator at the water plant. That way if there is a power outage the generator will supply electricity and keep it running.
Kastigar said information about the order being lifted is being relayed to residents at senior apartments. The school system also was informed. It was also posted on his social media page.
"We'll go back and see what can be done better and try to upgrade our safety plans if it happens again -- hopefully it's not going to," he said.
Kastigar believes the city did a good job of getting the situation handled despite only having between eight and 15 people working in the water department. He said their communications could be improved.
"When we talked to people with the EPA, they didn't realize how little human resources we had working on this," he said. "We don't have a big 20 or 30 man water department working on this.
"We had so much work going on it was hard to stop and say this is what's going on."
Kastigar said the city's employees worked many extra hours during the water crisis. The city also received help from emergency managers in Wetzel and Tyler Counties.
"The employees have worked so hard. Now they can go home and see their families," he said.
Distribution of bottled water was conducted three times a week during the order.
Dr. Matthew Christiansen, health officer for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, said the consecutive samples showed the water was well below the limits allowed for PCE.
"You know, I can say that the MCL -- the maximum contaminant limit, which is a number based on long term exposure, so based on two liters a day over 70 years -- we are well below that," he said.
"This is well below the MCL at this point for safe and acceptable consumption of this water with regards to potable water standards.
"So we are very comfortable that there is no public health risk at this time from that water.
"We are going to continue to sample on a weekly basis to make sure that this level stays below the MCL number and stays within those normal limits."
Christiansen said the city's water department must continue testing more frequently as ordered along with other new measures from the DHHR.
"Those expectations continue," Christiansen said. "The city will continue to do the testing. They are required to install a time meter on their equipment that controls these chemicals, so we can be assured that the levels remain low and both below that limit within those guidelines for drinkable water."
Christiansen added that "Paden City has been very responsive" to getting the problem fixed.
"They work closely with our team and the Office of Environmental Health Services. Their water operator and their mayor have been responsive and have complied with all of the orders that we've pushed down," he said.
Christiansen said Paden City being required to do additional testing and other measures from the DHHR should help ensure the water people are using in the city is safe.
"Every water system has unique concerns, depending on where the water comes from, depending on the history of that, of either the water table or the surface water. Every water system is different," he said.
"We have implemented through this administrative order the requirements to continue that testing. We have in code and existing requirements to test on a periodic basis for all water systems and, and have an electronic system that monitors those results to ensure that the water that's coming out of the tap meets those requirements."
Officials believe the PCE originated from a dry cleaner building in the city. The chemicals seeped through the ground into the city's aquifer, which is its water source.
Vapor intrusion testing results are expected to be released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency sometime in November during a public meeting.