Photos courtesy of AFP
A chemical spill left the water for 300,000 people in and around West Virginia’s capital city stained blue-green and smelling like liquorice.
Read the following story from the Bangkok Post to learn more about this chemical accident.
Officials on January 11 said it was unclear whether it might be safe to even take showers or do laundry with the water.
Federal authorities began investigating how the foaming agent escaped a chemical plant and seeped into the Elk River. Just how much of the chemical leaked into the river was also not known.
DANGER UNKNOWN
Officials were working with the company that makes the chemical to determine how much can be in the water without it posing harm to residents, West Virginia American Water president Jeff McIntyre said.
“We don’t know whether the water is safe or not,” Jeff said. “For now, there is no way to treat the tainted water aside from flushing the system until it’s in low-enough concentrations to be safe.”
HEALTH CONCERNS
Officials said the chemical isn’t deadly, even in its most concentrated form. However, people across nine counties were told they shouldn’t even wash their clothes in the affected water, as the compound can cause skin irritation and rashes, while ingesting it can cause vomiting and diarrhoea.
Around six people had been brought into emergency rooms with symptoms that may have stemmed from the chemical, however none of them were in a serious condition, State Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Karen Bowling said.
Exercises
Read through the story and decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. About six people were brought into emergency rooms with symptoms that may have stemmed from the contaminated water.
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2. Karen Bowling is the director of West Virginia American Water.
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3. This story was originally published in Post Today.
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4. The chemical spilled into the Elk River.
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Vocabulary
- liquorice (n): a firm black substance with a strong flavour, obtained from the root of a plant
seep (v): to flow slowly and in small quantities through something or into something
deadly (adj): causing or likely to cause death
diarrhoea (n): an illness in which waste matter is emptied from the bowels much more frequently than normal and in liquid form
stem from something (phrasal v): to be the result of something
