Water fill-ups continue in Vienna; local, state officials scrambling in wake of EPA advisories

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Bulk and bottled water was being moved by the truckload into a Wood County city that remained under a Do Not Drink water advisory Friday, a day after public water system operators across the U.S. received notice of new recommended EPA limits for the chemicals PFOA, also known as C-8, and PFOS in drinking water.

West Virginia American Water Company sent tankers to Wood County from its Charleston plant Thursday evening.

Cities like Vienna that had met previous recommended levels of 400 parts per trillion found themselves suddenly above the threshold when it was lowered to 70 parts per trillion.

As a precaution, a Do Not Drink water advisory was issued for Vienna and Boaz in Wood County as local, county and state officials worked on a response that was to include additional water testing and evaluation.

“It’s not a time to panic,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Public Health and state health officer. “We have a new level to deal with. We want to make sure the public is aware of the new level and understands in the big context and the big picture, basically, what’s happening.”

The EPA’s lifetime health advisories, which included new thresholds for those chemicals in public drinking water that were nearly six times below the previous levels, came Thursday.

“This health advisory level offers a margin of protection for all Americans throughout their life from adverse health efforts resulting from exposure to PFOA and PFOS in drinking water,” the notification from the EPA said.

The advisories, follow-ups to provisional health advisories for the chemicals released in 2009, are not legally enforceable.

“We must take action to ensure that, out of an abundance of caution, that we take the most prudent public health steps to protect the health of the residents,” Gupta said of the state response.

“This was something that we were surprised by. It comes back to local communities and at the state level, they’re the people on the ground. We have to react.”

PFOA and PFOS are fluorinated organic chemicals that have been used to make carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food and other materials, like cookware, that are resistant to water, grease or stains.

They’re also utilized for firefighting at airfields and in a number of industrial processes, according to the EPA.

The chemicals have been linked to a list of health issues.

An estimated 14,000 households in Vienna were affected because of PFOA and PFOS levels in the city’s only water source above 70 parts per trillion. That was the reason for the Do Not Drink advisory which applied to drinking and cooking with the water. There were no restrictions on other water usages.

As of Friday afternoon, water tankers were set up at the following locations in Vienna:

– Grand Central Mall
– Old Johns Manville Plant, 2800 River Road
– Vienna Utility Board Office, 210 60th Street

The sites were scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for residents with their own containers.

In Martinsburg, city water officials switched from the Big Springs Water Filtration Plant, which was above the new levels, to the Kilmer Springs Water Filtration Plant in Martinsburg, pending the results of additional water testing.

In Parkersburg, city officials said the water was testing at 33 parts per trillion as of Friday morning and it was “just fine.” During testing in September, one of five city wells came in above 70 parts per trillion, but information Friday indicated that well was not currently in use in Parkersburg.

EPA officials said the lifetime health advisories for PFOA and PFOS were “based on the agency’s assessment of the latest peer-reviewed science to provide drinking water system operators and state, tribal and local officials who have the primary responsibility for overseeing these systems, with information of the health risks of these chemicals, so they can take the appropriate actions to protect their residents.”

First District Congressman David McKinley (R-W.Va.) had questions for the EPA.

“This came out of the blue,” McKinley said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.” “I’m sure it’s a legitimate issue, but it’s now going to affect all water systems across the country that now have this responsibility and, for Vienna, how are they going to fix it overnight? They can’t.”

The full EPA fact sheet on PFOA and PFOS is available here.





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