CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia American Water Company says overnight test results at the company’s Kanawha Valley Treatment Plant reveal no presence of MCHM. The testing was necessary after another small spill at the Freedom Industries site about a mile upstream.
A DEP inspector on site noticed a sump pump had failed around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The pump was moving waste water from a collection trench into a storage tank. The pump’s failure allowed some of the material to overflow and spill into the Elk River. It’s the same site where a leak in January contaminated the water of 300,000 West Virginians in nine counties after the material got into the West Virginia American treatment plant.
Officials say although there was a spill, no odor was detected at the site of the spill or downstream.
West Virginia American as a precaution indicates in added Powdered Activated Carbon to provide additional absorption in the treatment process as a precaution. The company also brought in additional personnel overnight to monitor the raw water and to analyze additional samples of raw water and treated water.
More test results are expected soon.