Monday Week Two

 ...some questions regarding the WV chemical spill...

1. What is the nature of the WV chemical spill? Why is there a DO NOT USE THE WATER order for 300,000 people in WV? What are some of the health and economic impacts of the spill/no water situation? What are the names of the two companies involved?

2. Where did  the spill happen (at the regional level)? Can you describe the Elk River? Can you describe the Kanawah River? How do you pronounce "Kanawah"? Where did  the spill happen (at the local level)? Why is there an industrial chemical storage facility on the banks of the Elk River? Is this a good idea? Where is the intake for the WV American Water Charleston Water Treatment Plant in relation to the spill?

3.What was the chemical that was leaked? What are it's physical and chemical properties? Why are understanding the physical and chemical properties of the contaminate important to mitigation? Why is this chemical hazardous? Is it toxic (acute, chronic) ? How toxic is it? How do we know how toxic it is? What is a median lethal dose? How many people will die as a direct result of drinking public water contaminated with this chemical?

4. What are the ecological ramifications of the spill? Do we expect for major reductions in population density or biodiversity in the Elk or Kanawah Rivers as a direct result of this spill? What is the basis for this prediction?

5. What happened? Why is it important to determine an accurate and timeline of events for a situation like this (we will go into this more on Wednesday)? When did the spill happen? When did the authorities begin investigating? When did authorities arrive at the source of the leak?When did authorities realize that the secondary containment system at Freedom Industries had failed? When did authorities realize that there was surface water contamination? 

6. What happened (continued)? When did the governor declare a state of emergency for the nine counties affected? When did the White House declare a federal emergency? When did WV American Water issue a DO NOT USE WATER NOTICE for its customers? Do you see any problems with this timeline?

7. What is going to have to happen in order to get the water back on? What is the goal concentration for the contaminant? Do you think that the river at the intake is above the What is a concentric flushing? Why is it needed? Why might this add considerably to the time elapsed before some customers have access water in their homes?
 Slides from today are on Sakai. For Wednesday, read Why wasn't there a plan? Key players knew of potential for Elk River spill by Ken Ward Jr. published in the January 11, 2014 edition of the WV Gazette Mail and spend some time on the Facebook page (I assume all of you have heard of Facebook?) for WV Clean Water Hub- a grass-roots, social media platform for organizing water distribution during the WV chemical spill as your reading assignment for Wednesday. Wednesday, we will talk about the spill and updates (water services are already beginning to be restored!) Also, there is a homework assignment due...