Quick actions prevented chemical spill from impacting water supply in Philadelphia suburbs
Why didn't chemical spill impact Philadelphia suburbs?
While officials in Philadelphia were reassuring residents that a chemical spill along the Delaware River was not impacting the safety of the city's tap water, those in charge of a water treatment plan less than 2,000 miles from spill acted quickly to ensure the harmful toxins did not enter the plant.
BRISTOL, Pa. - Quick actions from those in charge of a water treatment facility near a chemical spill along the Delaware River prevented the harmful toxins from entering the plant.
Health officials in Bucks County said Sunday that between 8,100 and 12,000 gallons of a water-based latex-finishing solution spilled into the river late Friday because of a burst pipe at the Trinseo Altuglas chemical facility in Bristol Township.
The midnight spill happened at low tide less than half a mile upstream from the AQUA Pennsylvania water treatment facility. AQUA President Mark Lucca said by the time he heard about the spill the plant had already been shutdown thanks in part to early warning sensors that helped them decide to shut off water intake from the river.
"The first thing people are asking us is ‘is my water safe to drink?’ It absolutely is safe to drink, how do we know? Because it never got into the plant" Lucca said.
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AQUA's local water reserves were fairly high, so Bristol's water supply was never threatened. And even if it was, AQUA says it would have been able to call on more supply from company resources in nearby Delaware and Montgomery counties.
"We have a lot of resources within Southeastern Pennsylvania to move water from one area to another, which is what got us through all the plant was shut down," AQUA Vice President Todd Duerr said.
AQUA says it waited until shortly after the next high tide to reopen the facility to ensure clean water from upstream flushed the potentially chemical-tainted water down the Delaware River. The plant normally operates 24-hours a day, but their operations are currently cut in half.
"Whenever the tide would go out, recognize that the water upstream is fresh, there's nothing in that," Duerr said. "Every day the plume is moving further and further downstream, so with all those data points in mind, we decided if the plant should come on or not."
The data-driven water company says it will continue to use information collected on a daily basis to decide when to safely return the plant to 100% capacity.