Two years after a chemical spill contaminated the water of more than 300,000 West Virginia residents, a group of concerned citizens and action groups gathered in the state's Capitol to learn more about how communities can protect their drinking water.
The West Virginia Rivers Coalition, a statewide nonprofit organization that advocates for safe water and clean rivers and streams, hosted the first of four regional public forums that focused on ways the public can protect their source water, and what the state has been doing in the two years following the Elk River chemical spill to address water protection. The forum was held Saturday, the two-year anniversary of the day thousands of gallons of the chemical crude MCHM spilled into the Elk River, leading to water-use bans that lasted days.
"We encountered some unique challenges back in January of 2014," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, state health officer and commissioner for the Bureau for Public Health. "We were on the ground and dealt with a specific substance that we didn't know what to do with."
Gupta, who was the health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department when the chemical spill occurred, said the experience served to highlight the inadequacies in state regulation and local response for such a large-scale event. In response, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 373, which regulates chemical storage tanks like the Freedom Industries tank involved in the 2014 spill, and requires public water utilities statewide to adopt source water protection plans, which all public water systems are required to submit by July 1, 2016, and update every three years.
"We are now one of the strongest states in requiring source water protection plans, starting July 1 of this year. In most states, it's voluntary," Gupta said. "As that goes forward, it is allowing utilities, both large and small, to put their information in and get that information - where are those tanks, what are the substances in those tanks, and to be able to get that information to those utilities and figure out those emergency plans and be able to have public input and planning."
The state has identified 126 water systems so far that will require a source water protection plan, and has completed plans for more than a dozen of them, Gupta said. The BPH has a plan template that each water system will individualize, Gupta said, and that will identify potentially significant sources of contamination, including things like chemical storage tanks, rail yards, landfills and mines. The plans will include guidance on prioritizing threats, notifying the public, planning for water shortages and coordinating emergency response.
Representatives from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition also discussed how individuals can better protect their water. Autumn Bryson, the program director for the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, said state law on developing source water protection plans requires public input, and the Clean Water Act requires public drinking water utilities provide their customers with regular reports on the status of the system.
"That's why it's so important that the public stay informed about their water," Bryson said.
Land owners have another means of protecting their water through something called a conservation easement, which protects the property even if it is transferred to someone else, Bryson said. Bryson also suggested that residents do more common upkeep, such as ensuring that their property's septic tank is working properly or appropriately disposing of household chemicals, to help keep their water system running smoothly.
"As the old adage goes, 'failing to prepare is preparing to fail,'" Gupta said. "Water and sanitation infrastructure issues are not exclusive to West Virginia. It's a national issue, because the majority of the infrastructure is from the turn of the last century, or after World War II; the timing for that is running out, and you're seeing that in terms of spills and failings."
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.