Contaminated: Drinking Water Problems in Appalachia

Floyd spring

By Hannah Gillespie Springs Harbor Potentially Harmful Bacteria Leigh-Anne Krometis, associate professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering, began studying the use of Appalachian roadside springs for drinking water in 2016 to determine whether they could be a public health risk. Krometis studied how often and why people collect drinking water from 19…

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Compensation Remains Elusive After Elk River Chemical Spill

By Kimber Ray Prospects of a full cleanup are uncertain at the site of a chemical leak that contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginia residents last January. Freedom Industries in August submitted a proposal to the state bankruptcy court outlining its intention to abandon the site that housed the culpable chemical storage tank…

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Doubts Follow Elk River Contamination

By Kimber Ray Four months after a Freedom Industries chemical tank contaminated the water of approximately 300,000 West Virginia residents this past January, only 36 percent of those residents were drinking their tap water, according a survey released in May by the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. The affected private utility, West Virginia American Water Company, is…

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One Seriously Angry Granny

By Linda Sodaro Sometime last year, my good friend Kim and I had a conversation about the joys of a hot shower. The perfect temperature, with lovely handmade soap and standing there as long as we liked. She said, “I don’t think we’re always going to have that.” Kim’s prophetic words came to pass Jan.…

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