Water contamination Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Residents Along Contaminated Creek Just Want Clean Water

In Pineville, West Virginia, a town of 500, residents filled up the front rows of the county courtroom recently. They came to hear the latest legal update on a battle some have been fighting for generations – securing clean water. Bobby Lee Keen and his wife Patsy attended the hearing. “How come they have people living like they’re in a third world country in the United States of America?” asked Bobby Keen.

“How come they have people living like they’re in a third world country in the United States of America?” asked Bobby Keen.

The Keens have lived in their house for 20 years, but they have never had clean drinking water. They say the only way they can drink the orange water that comes out of the faucet is by using it to make coffee.

Keen said the water quality has gotten worse in the last year, and he and his wife have had stomach issues and rashes. Other residents have reported similar symptoms.

And they’re not sure what could be causing it. Regardless, Keen believes one thing to be true.

“There’s something getting in that water,” he said.

One of the three places along the creek where water started coming out, and with it, a white stringy slime.

*Courtesy of David Stover*

A year ago, down the street from the Keens’ house, water started flowing out of the ground in the middle of a field, forming a pool. All that water led to a mold infestation in a nearby property owner’s house. The water had a rotten egg smell and white stringy slime.

Who Is Responsible?

Just below the surface of that pungent pool is an old mine, previously owned by the now-defunct Pinnacle Mining Company.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) tested the water and said that the results indicated that it had been polluted by the abandoned mine.

Nicolas Zegre, a Mountain Hydrologist at West Virginia University (WVU), said holes like the one in Pineville are known as artesian wells. They naturally push water from aquifers to the surface.

“When you start mining, the geologic layers, the below ground layers,” Zegre said. “You’re fundamentally changing how water is going to flow through the earth.”

Now, the pool of smelly, murky water has become a steady stream that flows into Indian Creek.

The DEP ordered Pinnacle to remedy the situation. When Pinnacle failed to act, it took the company to court.

There is one major problem here. Pinnacle Mining Company no longer legally exists. As part of its bankruptcy, the company’s assets and liabilities were sold. But to whom?

“That’s the million dollar question,” Matt Hepler, a scientist with Appalachian Voices, said.

Court documents show Pinnacle was, at least in part, bought by Bluestone Mining Resources and is owned by Gov. Jim Justice. However, Justice said Bluestone is not responsible.

Justice answered this question: “Many people along Indian Creek in Wyoming county are sounding the alarms about water contamination possibly coming from a mine that your company purchased, and now owns. As both the governor and the owner of said company is there anything you are planning on doing for these folks so that they can have clean drinking water?” by saying he is not responsible.

*Photo Credit: WV Governor’s Office*

“I’m all for them having good clean drinking water. But you can’t, you can’t blame me on this one,” Justice said at one of his regular press briefings. “The companies that we have are so distantly involved in this, it’s unbelievable. You know, the DEP is working on the issue.”

Hepler said this fits into a bigger context of the mess that ensues after a coal company goes bankrupt.

“They can’t even figure out, they’re arguing who that new owner is. So they’re not even sure. They’re just pointing fingers at each other,” Hepler said.

Which raises another big picture question.

“Who gets left holding the liability when these coal companies go out?” Hepler asked.

Will The Problem Be Fixed?

In court on April 4, the presiding Wyoming County Judge Derek Swope demanded the companies figure out who is responsible by their next court date in May.

Outside the courthouse, community members said they felt disappointed. Richard Altizer has been delivering water bottles to some of the residents affected by the water crisis. He and others were hoping the courts would have ordered Bluestone and Alpha Metallurgical Resources to cease all operations until they fixed some of the problems associated with Pinnacle’s abandoned mine.

Disappointed residents, some affected by the water crisis, leave the court room.

*Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

“If that judge were to order that mines and the gas companies shut down until that is fixed they’d be out there tomorrow fixing it,” Altizer said.

In their lawsuit, the DEP and the man whose house was flooded, are asking for injunctive relief. They don’t want money for the damaged property or the health issues the water has caused, they only want what has been broken to be fixed. But residents are frustrated by what they say is a year of inaction.

“Now that the mine gets to operate, and the gas wells keep doing what they’re doing, everything’s hunky-dory with the poor people down here. And it’s frustrating,” Altizer said. “But like I said, we still got legal rights.”

The community is considering a class action lawsuit.

Richard Altizer has been delivering water bottles to community members paid for through crowd funding sites and city officials.

*Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Is The Water Toxic?

In the meantime, the question looms, is the water safe?

Grace Denver, an expert on water and its connection to people’s lives, works at WVU’s Center For Resilient Communities. She affirmed what residents have been saying about their everyday use of the water from contaminated wells.

“That can result in huge GI issues, skin rashes,” Denver said. “It can even lead to longer-term things like cancer and things like that.”

Patsy Keen brought photos with her to court in hoping to show someone involved in the legal process what the water was doing to her skin while she was routinely showering in it.

*Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Even though the DEP found the mine was the source of the contamination, it said the water quality passes all mine reclamation standards. But members of the community are skeptical. Terry Fletcher, with the DEP, said the agency is doing everything within its power to take on the issue.

“I know, there’s been kind of a narrative pushed out there that we’re only testing for one to two, three to four things when we’re testing for dozens and dozens of parameters,” Fletcher said.

But Hepler from Appalachian Voices said the tests that the department has done so far might not show the true water condition.

“Now when you test the water column, which is just to say test the water without any of that slime in it,” Hepler said. “The water has been coming back fine, according to West Virginia DEP standards.”

Hapler believes the water does pass mine reclamation standards, as well as Clean Water Act standards, but he said that even still that doesn’t translate to the water being safe.

And there is another set of data that is being ignored, said WVU’s Grace Denver.

“Community members are experts of their own lives,” Denver said. “And so I think like their lived experience of knowing, like recognizing the smell, noticing the color change in their community, and recognizing also if any rashes are appearing, or if they’re feeling funky, I think that is scientific knowledge. And I think that we should be taking these observations from the community a lot more seriously.”

For Bobby Keen, whose faucet still has orange water coming out, he said he isn’t angry at anyone, he just wants his family and community to have access to safe water.

**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said even though the DEP found the mine was the source of the contamination, it said the water quality passes all mine reclamation standards. It has been changed to: Even though the DEP found the mine was the source of what residents believe is contaminated water, it says the water quality passes all state water quality standards.

Paden City Water Works “Do Not Consume” Order Lifted

Paden City has a history of water plant problems with PCE contamination.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Public Health has lifted the “do not consume” notice for customers of Paden City Water Works. The notice was issued on August 16, based on three consecutive samples that showed negative detectable levels of tetrachloroethylene (also known as PCE) in the local water supply.

DHHR said in a release that even if PCE levels are below the maximum contaminant level, local customers will receive additional instructions from Paden City Water Works to flush their lines prior to using or consuming the water to remove residual PCE. Those with specific health concerns are advised to consult with a primary care physician or use an alternate source of drinking water.

Paden City Water Works will continue to flush as needed while also collecting weekly samples until the Bureau for Public Health is confident that levels of PCE remain below the MCL.

The elevated PCE was a result of a June mechanical by-pass valve failure which has been corrected. Paden City Mayor Steve Kastigar noted in releases that a June storm prompted a transformer failure at the water plant. He said the air stripper went down because of the transformer failure. As a result, Paden City was running out of water without any ability to fight fires, so the bypass valve was opened, causing the chemical leak.

An administrative order from the Bureau for Public Health was issued to Paden City on August 19 to clarify actions necessary to address the public health issues related to PCE. The order was amended to include additional items to ensure that the treatment was functioning effectively on August 26.

“DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health was pleased to support Paden City and its residents through this issue in coordination with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the West Virginia Division of Emergency Management, and county and city officials,” said Interim DHHR Secretary Dr. Sherri Young. “The health of residents in Paden City has been a priority for the entire Justice Administration, and we are pleased that the do not consume notice could be lifted.”

Several rounds of sampling were conducted by Paden City and EPA. DHHR coordinated the delivery of testing supplies to Paden City on August 24, for additional water sampling. State resources were also made available to help provide alternative sources of drinking water and support distribution needs.

Paden city has a history of water plant problems with PCE contamination.

To stay updated, customers can reach out to Paden City Hall at 304-337-8581 to sign up for the local Code Red notification system.

EPA Updates Residents On PCE Water Contamination In Paden City

Community members from Paden City, West Virginia, heard from federal and state officials Thursday about an ongoing investigation into the city’s contaminated water supply.

The small community, located along the Ohio River in Tyler and Wetzel counties, has faced years of contaminated water from a chemical commonly used in dry cleaning called Tetrachloroethylene or PCE.

During a virtual public information meeting Thursday evening, EPA officials confirmed PCE has been present in the city-run water system for at least a decade at varying levels — sometimes above federal drinking water standards.

PCE was first detected in Paden City in 2010. The city installed three air strippers to filter out the chemical. In 2018, one of the strippers failed and the city began recording levels of PCE above the federal maximum contaminant level for PCE at 5 parts per billion.

Then in the fall of 2019 another air stripper failed. It was repaired in 2020, however officials recorded a PCE level of 21 ppb in November 2019. Earlier this year, city officials alerted residents of the high levels of PCE in their drinking water, prompting some residents to organize bottled water handouts and begin conducting a local health survey of residents.

In May, a new treatment plant was installed. Meredith Vance, acting director of the environmental engineering division for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, said sampling conducted since the plant was installed has shown no detectable levels of PCE in the water. Monthly testing will continue for the next year, and under federal law, quarterly sampling will continue indefinitely.

While water leaving the city’s treatment facility may be clean, EPA’s investigation so far has identified widespread PCE contamination stemming from Bandbox Dry Cleaners, which closed in 1975.

The agency has been conducting its assessment since 2018 at the behest of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, which asked for help identifying the source of contamination in the city’s four public wells.

EPA began taking water and soil samples in January 2020. Connor O’Loughlin, EPA site assessment manager, said it appears there is a 63-acre area of contaminated groundwater that connects the dry cleaner to the four wells used by the city for drinking water.

A second phase of the investigation is set to begin this summer. EPA will further look at two other dry cleaners — Budd’s Dry Cleaners and the Rockwell Dry Cleaners — as possible sources of contamination and whether the chemical is traveling up from the soil into people’s homes in vapor form.

Data being collected by EPA will also be used to determine if the site should be listed on the Superfund National Priorities List.

Health Concerns

The bulk of the questions posed to officials during the information session centered around whether the PCE contamination in Paden City has harmed residents’ health.

The door-to-door health survey conducted by a group of concerned citizens has unearthed self-reported clusters of cancer, ALS, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, as well as neurological symptoms.

Lora Werner, regional director for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency, said based on the data that the agency had, it appears unlikely that the levels of PCE in the city’s water were high enough to have harmed residents.

“Based on your situation, what we know about those levels, these do not seem high enough to have actually caused health effects for community members. So that’s that’s the good news,” she said. “Again, we have to caution that there’s a lot we don’t know, but from what we do know that’s what we conclude.”

That did not sit well with some attendees. Werner referenced one comment submitted in the virtual session that noted it was “painful” to hear her say that it was unlikely the contamination was linked to health problems given the level of illness among the community.

She noted while health studies like the one the community has conducted can be helpful, the data collected is not rigorous enough to be used by epidemiologists to pinpoint whether exposure to a chemical caused illness.

“I do really want to strongly point out that there is a lot that we don’t know about what causes people illnesses,” Werner said. “I don’t want to give a sense of certainty that we don’t have, but we do our best with the information we do have and we extrapolate from those occupational and animal studies and to try to make conclusions when we can.”

In Paden City, W.Va. Water Contamination Sparks Questions About Health

Many residents in the small West Virginia town of Paden City are grappling with the news that the city’s water is contaminated with a chemical commonly used in dry cleaning called Tetrachloroethylene or PCE.

Late last month, the city-run water authority sent a notice to residents warning PCE was present in the water at nearly three times the federal limit. The notice stated the water was safe to drink in the short term, but could lead to long term health problems including an increased risk of cancer.

City officials are working on a fix, but some residents are asking both how long they’ve been exposed to the chemical and if that exposure may have impacted their health.

On a recent Sunday afternoon idling cars snake down West Main Street. Residents are waiting to receive donated bottled water, including Whitney Fiber. She said she is worried what drinking contaminated water may mean for her daughter’s health.

“My daughter’s two years old and every sippy cup, every bottle she had — because she was a formula baby — we made with that water,” she said. “Now, what happens if she gets sick from exposure to this? We should have been told. Everyone should have been told. It’s wrong.”

Fiber is not alone in her concerns. At a public meeting earlier that afternoon, more than three dozen residents packed the Paden City Council chambers, a small room in the same building as the volunteer fire department. At times, the mood turned contentious.

The city has shut down wells in the past due to PCE contamination. Paden City Mayor Clyde Hockstrasser said the water authority has been playing “whack a mole” battling rising PCE readings across the city’s four wells. Additionally, the city’s current filtration system is running at reduced capacity due to broken parts.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers PCE to be “likely cariogenic”. Studies have linked exposure to an increased risk of cancer, reproductive and developmental effects and neurological impacts. The agency set the maximum contaminant level for PCE at 5 parts per billion. Last year, the city told residents that in 2018 the levels were at 5.5 parts per billion.

The latest testing showed the quarterly average level of PCE was 13.6 parts per billion.

Hockstrasser said it now appears the contamination is getting worse. Recent testing by the EPA confirmed PCE levels are eight times over the limit near one closed drycleaner.

“We found out our aquifer was polluted from the EPA drilling and that our major concentration was at what they call the Band Box Cleaners,” he said.

The dry cleaning company operated in Paden City for decades and closed nearly 20 years ago.

New Filtration System

Hockstrasser said the city intends to break ground next week on a four-month project to install a state-of-the-art water filtration system. It’s being funded by a $570,000 emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the system should strip almost all the PCE out of the city’s water. However, long term, the Hockstrasser said Paden City may need to find a new water supply.

“All four of our wells are pulling out the same aquifer. So, maybe we can get further north further south to try to get out of that aquifer and get a clean well,” he said. “But our first line of defense is getting the strippers in. That was our quickest way to eradicate this.”

While the fix is promising, some residents worry about long term exposure.

Paden City residents’ water is contaminated with chemical PCE.

“What I have always been concerned about are my kids,”said resident Tonya Schuler, who led the public meeting and is one of a group of concerned citizens who raised the alarm about the PCE contamination. “I have a son with epilepsy. I have a son that has neurological tremors.”

On Facebook and in person, Schuler began asking if others in Paden City, a community of about 3,000 residents, which straddles Tyler and Wetzel Counties in northwestern West Virginia, if they had health problems.

During a recent door-to-door informal survey, she said the instances of sickness were staggering.

“We found clusters of cancer, ALS, MS, fibromyalgia,” she said.

Now, Schuler and others intend to survey every resident of Paden City about their health and if and how they use the water. She hopes the data will help equip the community with more information, and could spur state or federal health agencies into doing a more thorough investigation in Paden City.

A spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, the parent agency of the Bureau for Public Health, said in an email that the agency’s current role in Paden City is to enforce federal drinking water regulations.

“The Bureau for Public Health enforces the federal regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act and notifies the public water system that they have exceeded the EPA’s MCL,” it stated.

A spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said the agency has limited involvement and the EPA is leading the investigation and remediation.

Making Aware

Boston University Epidemiologist Ann Aschengrau has studied the long term impacts of PCE exposure in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where the chemical was used to line water pipes.

Determining exposure and connecting it to disease is a complicated task, she said, especially with PCE. Humans can be exposed not just through drinking water, but by breathing it and absorbing it through the skin.

“The problem is that it takes really a lot of work and ends up being money to really do a good investigation,” she said.

Long lines of cars waited to get donated water on Feb. 9, 2020 in Paden City, W.Va.

For her part, Schuler said she isn’t backing down.

“I’m no scientist, I’m no chemist. I’m just a concerned citizen,” she said. “I just wanted everybody to be aware because that’s the problem I think everybody’s upset about is we were not made aware.”

Until then, she intends to keep handing out donated bottled water.

Dem. Lawmakers Advocate For Regulation And Research Of Water Contaminating Chemicals

Democratic lawmakers Thursday drummed up support for boosting water protections to address a handful of toxic, man-made chemicals.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more broadly known as PFAS chemicals, have been widely used in everything from food packaging to nonstick coatings. The class of chemicals includes C8, or PFOA, the chemical produced and dumped in the Parkersburg area for decades by chemical giant DuPont.

The effect of the chemical and related events were recently brought to the silver screen in the blockbuster film, “Dark Waters” starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway.

The “Clean Drinking Water Act of 2020” has now been introduced in both the House of Delegates and Senate.

The bill would create an interagency taskforce to determine the extent of PFAS contamination across West Virginia. If passed, the bill would also require industrial sites that use or have used PFAS chemicals to report and monitor their use to state regulators. It would also require the Department of Environmental Protection to set drinking water standards for a handful of PFAS chemicals.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon at the Capitol, Evan Hansen, (D-Monongalia), sponsor of the House version, H.B. 4542, said it is time West Virginia takes action to address PFAS chemicals.

“They’re not effectively regulated at the state level or the federal level, and they’ve hurt people in West Virginia,” he said. “In an ideal world, the federal EPA would take the lead on this and come up with national standards, but unfortunately they’ve been dragging their feet and that’s forced state after state to matters into their own hands. So, that’s what we’re doing here today.”

Neither bill has been placed on a committee agenda yet, but supportive Democrats argued the legislation is largely aimed at collecting better science and not a heavy burden on industry.

Sen. William Ihlenfeld II (D – Ohio) is the lead sponsor of S.B. 679. He said that adopting strong science-based protections would boost business confidence across West Virginia.

“There’s a false narrative in the building that we can’t have a healthy environment and a strong economy,” he said. “We absolutely can have both and this type of legislation is not overly burdensome — it’s not a heavy lift for industry.”

That is a sentiment echoed by Charleston resident and former small business owner, Nancy Ward. Her shop, Cornucopia, closed in 2015, she said in part due to slumping sales following the 2014 water crisis.

“If you want to keep businesses here you have to keep the people here and you have to keep them healthy,” she said.

Hansen acknowledged that while many lawmakers support the sentiment of protecting water, for some, supporting the bill that places the spotlight on chemical users and producers will be an uphill battle.

Martinsburg Sues Feds Over 2016 Water Contamination

The City of Martinsburg has sued the federal government over alleged chemical contamination of a drinking water plant.

Martinsburg attorney Kin Sayre filed the claim this month, requesting the Air National Guard pay for damages caused by high levels of two chemicals that the city said seeped into the water supply at the Big Springs water filtration plant in Martinsburg in 2016.

The chemicals — PFOA and PFOS — are found in a firefighting foam used by the Air National Guard. A base, the 167th Airlift Wing, is located in Berkeley County.

Steve Knipe, the utilities director for the City of Martinsburg, said the city acted quickly two years ago when a federal water quality report made them aware of the contamination.

“Martinsburg was proactive about jumping in and taking that source of supply off line while we were designing treatment systems for removing it,” he said.

The incident affected the southern and western parts of Martinsburg, but it’s hard to say exactly how many customers were affected because of the city’s grid system, Knipe said. There are 6,000 customers in Martinsburg, but not all were affected by the contamination, he said.

The city’s water was switched over to the Kilmer Springs Water Filtration Plant, a back up to Big Springs. In December 2017, the Big Springs plant was turned back on after tests showed the new system was effective.

Knipe said Martinsburg paid $4.5 million with the city’s water and sewer savings accounts for research and to install eight granulated, activated carbon systems — its main material made out of coconut shells — to filter out the chemical in the Big Springs Plant.

“The biggest cost ongoing, from here on out is going to be carbon replacement,” Knipe noted, “and that’s actually going to be dependent on the concentration of the contaminant.”

Knipe says each unit may need replaced every year.

The Martinsburg water plant is one of hundreds across the country possibly contaminated by PFOS as a result of firefighting foams, potentially costing billions in cleanup.

The Air National Guard promised to pay back Martinsburg for the carbon systems and other damages.

Knipe said the city hasn’t received it.

***Editor’s Note: The headline and body of this story were adjusted for clarification.