West Virginia Tap Water Still Contaminated, River Clear

Trace amounts of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) have been found in water leaving the treatment plant in Charleston, W.Va.—but not in the Elk River, which provides water to the facility. The likely source of this contamination is the plant’s activated charcoal filters, which the treatment plant says it will replace. Studies in late March showed MCHM concentrations were greater than 0.5 and less than 1 ppb in water that left the treatment plant. None was found in the river at levels at or above 0.5 ppb, the detection limit for the labs conducting the analyses. A storage tank upstream of the West Virginia American Water’s facility leaked some 10,000 gal of MCHM into the river in January. The chemical contaminated municipal drinking water, leaving 300,000 people without water for drinking, cooking, or bathing for days.