Don't Drink the Water!

 In Charleston, West Virginia health officials tested the water and declared it to be safe to drink. Some residents in virginia reported getting rashes on their body after bathing. When this was reported, on January 9th, the water was tested again and the chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM, was discovered leaking from a storage tank and was leaked into the water supply. This scared everyone and they decided to do a "do-not-use" order. When residents ran the water on hot there was a licorice odor which worried residents. 300,000 West Virginians were unable to drink or bathe in their water for a week. The chemical is known for helping to wash coal to reduce ash, but other than that, little it known about the chemical and it's effects on a person body if inhaled. "The spill was originally estimated at about 7,500 gallons, but Freedom Industries said late last month that about 10,000 gallons of chemical had escaped. The company also told regulators that a second chemical -- a mix of polyglycol ethers, known as PPH -- was part of the leak." Awhile later, official lifted the "do-not-use" rule after discovering that the chemical only appeared in the water supply are very low levels. This still worried the residents of West Virginia. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventing were hired to do further research on the issue. The chemical MCHM was found in the treated and untreated water from two homes in Charleston Virginia." The amounts ranged from less than 0.5 parts per billion to 1.6 parts per billion, well below the 1 part per million that the CDC has said it considers unlikely to be associated with any adverse health effects." "We stand willing to continue to assist and will be discussing with officials there what additional toxicology and epidemiology studies may be needed," said Laura Bellinger, a CDC spokeswoman."The official agencies are saying (the water is) OK to drink," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, health officer and executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston and Putnam County health departments. Officials are saying that the water is "okay" to drink, but they are not saying that the water is "safe to drink". "Safe" is the word that makes people feel more comfortable. If I lived in West Virginia I would honestly be very skeptical of what the government says. I feel that sometimes they do not have the citizens best interest at heart. Sometimes the temporarily fix things. Things like wondering if the water supply is okay to drink and bathe in is something that we should not have to worry about as citizens of these United States.