GREENBRIER COUNTY, W.Va. — As many as 12,000 residents in parts of Greenbrier County are starting out the week without water.
After residents were instructed to conserve water this weekend when a truck hauling diesel fuel wrecked on Route 92 on Friday night, the Lewisburg Water Treatment Plant ran out of stored water on Sunday afternoon, according to Greenbrier County emergency officials.
It could be several days before water service is fully restored.
Diesel fuel from the truck spilled into a tributary of Anthony Creek which runs into the Greenbrier River. Early estimates indicated more than 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel were dumped into the water.
As a precaution, the intake along the Greenbrier River for the Lewisburg Water Treatment Plant – which also serves customers in Ronceverte, Frankford and Renick – was shut off to keep the diesel fuel from making it into the water supply.
Stored water was being used in the interim, but that supply was gone by Sunday afternoon when Lewisburg officials reported the treatment plant had still not resumed normal operations.
Water samples were being collected for tested, but those results were not expected back before Monday.
“We are being very cautious,” Lewisburg Mayor John Manchester said in information provided to residents.
Water distribution points were set up at the State Fairgrounds in Fairlea and at Island Park in Ronceverte for residents who provided their own containers.
Because of the water problems, a number of schools were in Greenbrier County were closed Monday: Eastern Greenbrier Middle, Frankford Elementary, Greenbrier East High, Lewisburg Elementary and Ronceverte Elementary.
Officials with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Greenbrier County Office of Emergency Services, the Greenbrier County Health Department, the City of Lewisburg other emergency agencies were part of the response.