Marshall University Environmental Scientist Finds Formaldehyde in ‘Safe’ Charleston Water

Marshall University Environmental Scientist Finds Formaldehyde in ‘Safe’ Charleston Water

by John Prager

Marshall University environmental scientist and member of the state's Environmental Quality Board Scott Simonten has announced that the Charleston area's water includes more free chemicals than we had previously known--specifically, formaldehyde.

In early January, it became known that an amount up to 5,000 gallons of crude MCHM had leaked into West Virginia's Elk River from a Freedom Industries tank. Mere exposure to the water could cause blisters, rashes, and burns while ingestion could lead to uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea. In the time since, that number jumped from 5,000 gallons to 7,500 and now 10,000 and a second chemical, "PPH," was discovered to have been contaminating the water as well.

It was originally reported that the chemicals leaked for just a few hours, but as Bob Aaron revealed in a report for the local ABC affiliate, the leak likely occurred for approximately 20 hours. It could have been leaking below ground for months.

Now, it seems, a third chemical can be added to the cocktail of contamination that is in the water supply in the nine counties affected by the spill. While West Virginia American Water officials and other "experts" alike have claimed the water is now safe, residents have disagreed vehemently, citing the numerous additional hospitalizations since the lifting of the "do not use" order and other independent testing as evidence.

The declaration that the water is now safe has ended many relief efforts in the area and has placed residents in a difficult situation, given the new and interesting things being discovered about the local water supply as time marches on. "It's frightening, it really is frightening," said MU environmental scientist Scott Simonten. "What we know scares us, and we know there's a lot more we don't know."

Simonten has grown concerned not only with the newly-discovered presence of formaldehyde in the water, but with the lack of data on what actually happens to the 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol once it has a chance to react with various chemicals already found in the water. "We don't know what happens to this stuff once it gets into the environment," he said. "What happens when it reacts with makeup or soap or shampoo or anything else that we come into contact with everyday?"

One thing is for certain, though. As he told a joint legislative committee on water resources, his family is not going to drink or cook with the water, despite the weeks-old declaration that it is safe. "Your level of what risk you will accept is up to you, I can only tell you what mine is and I'm not drinking the water," Simonten said. "The formaldehyde had me personally a little freaked out."

How was formaldehyde introduced into the water? One of crude MCHM's main components is methanol, which breaks down into formaldehyde, according to Simonten. While he has not said how much of it was found, he described finding "trace amounts" taken from a downtown Charleston business.

It's no wonder Freedom Industries donates so heavily to politicians who support deregulation and who oppose any efforts to protect our environment from ecological terrorists like the criminals currently doing everything they can to evade responsibility for poisoning the water supply upon which over 300,000 humans rely.

John Prager