For weeks after the chemical spill in West Virginia, government officials have said the running water in nine counties is suitable for all daily needs, but many of the 300,000 residents whose water was contaminated are still wary, the Associated Press reported.
Shortly after the spill, officials waited four to 10 days before allowing people to use their water, according to the AP. In the days right after Freedom Industries leaked chemicals into the Elk River in Charleston, officials said the water should be used only for flushing toilets and fighting fires.
Residents have struggled to track, let alone trust, mixed messages and muddied information from government officials and Freedom Industries, the company involved, the AP reported. Despite public pressure, officials have been reluctant to call the water "safe" and have started arguing that the term is subjective.
Officials are now using the phrases such as "appropriate to use" to define the waters drinkability, according to the AP.
In Charleston, eateries display signs that say, "We're cooking with bottled water," the AP reported.The chemical licorice smell still wafts out of some showers, toilets and taps in homes and businesses.
On February 5 and 6, the smell resurfaced in five schools and the district temporarily shut them down after one teacher fainted and went to the hospital, according to the AP.
The nine-county region was cleared to use the water before Freedom Industries revealed that a second chemical, stripped PPH, was in the tank that spilled, the AP reported.
Today, doctors are still advising some patients, such as people with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems, to avoid the water on a case-by-case basis, said Kanawha County Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta, according to the AP.
Outside water continues to be brought in by tanker trucks and military vehicles, under orders by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration. The public still demands it, Tomblin said, the AP reported.
"It is impossible to predict when this will change, if ever," Tomblin wrote in a Jan. 29 request for more federal help, according to the AP.
A researcher is now studying the odor threshold and threat of the chemical, the AP reported. Government experts have long said people can smell the licorice tinge well after the chemical is no longer dangerous in water or vapor.
Whelton's team also is tasking experts to investigate the CDC's standard for how much of the chemical can be safely ingested in drinking water, according to the AP.
"People are as angry and as frustrated as they were in the first few days," Gupta told the AP. "It's been a challenge. We are on frontiers unknown. And, the population - the 300,000 people or so - continue to suffer."
