But they were later opened periodically to maintain minimal water levels to avoid damage to equipment and to supply water for fire safety and other essential needs, officials said. Intakes allowing water from the river into the Baxter Water Treatment Plant in northeast Philadelphia about 13 miles (21 kilometers) south of the spill were initially closed. Elevated tests, however, will continue until environmental officials say it is all right to ease off, he said. and when we open the gates again we know that that water is going to be in that window where there's no contamination in the river,' he said. 'So we know we have enough water on-hand now to last us for about 48 hours. He punctuated his words by drinking a glass of water at the podium, as did the mayor at the end of the news conference.Ĭarroll said the all-clear comes after Coast Guard tests of water from the river continued to show no contamination and water brought into the city system from the river for about four hours early Tuesday was contaminant-free.

'Throughout the whole event, no contaminants were ever found in Philadelphia's drinking water,' said Michael Carroll, deputy managing director for the city's Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability. The final all-clear came after days of announcements that water could be guaranteed uncontaminated at least through Monday, then into Tuesday afternoon and finally through Wednesday. Philadelphia officials said tests of hundreds of samples from a number of locations had turned up no trace of contaminants related to the discharge. The team also found seven other spills involving the same chemicals that made it into the water.Īll of those happened prior to when Trinseo acquired the plant. The 6abc Data Journalism Team found that there have been 26 instances of a chemical release in the same location since 1990. 'But there is certainly something to say about the challenges with doing this sort of chemical manufacturing in close proximity to large population centers.' 'It's not a significant issue for the population that lives in greater Philadelphia area,' commented Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Houston.

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