Locals in Ohio Train Derailment Area Advised to Drink Bottled Water

Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. NTSBGov/Handout via Reuters

Ohio officials have urged some locals living near the train derailment site in East Palestine to only use bottled water amid concerns over the potential health impacts of hazardous chemicals that spilled into the Ohio River and as others were drained from the train cars and burned off.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told a press conference Tuesday that the pollution did not pose a serious threat to the five million or so people who rely on the Ohio River for their drinking water.

Still, DeWine and other Ohio officials warned that residents using private wells near the derailment should only use bottled water.

“For right now, I think bottled water’s the right answer,” Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said at the press conference.

Asked by reporters whether he would return home amid cleanup efforts, DeWine said he'd be back home but would not be drinking water from the tap.

“I think that I would be drinking the bottled water,” DeWine said. “And I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air.”

“I would be alert and concerned,” he continued, adding, “But I think I would probably be back in my house.”

DeWine said on Feb. 8 that it was safe for local residents to return to their homes.

HEPACO workers, an environmental and emergency services company, observe a stream in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

Lingering Questions

People in and around East Palestine have been asking whether the air and water is safe for their families, pets, and livestock after the Feb. 3 derailment caused a fire that sent a cloud of toxic smoke over the town, prompting thousands to evacuate.

There have been reports of sick or dead animals and persistent odors, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that a number of hazardous chemicals were found at the site of the derailment, including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate.

Besides being burned off in a controlled fashion, contaminants from derailed cars also spilled into waterways, with officials tracking a large “plume” of chemicals flowing down the Ohio River.

Around 3,500 fish have been killed by the chemical spill, according to an estimate by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with around 7 miles of streams affected by the toxins.

An environmental company is removing dead fish downstream from the site of the train derailment that forced people to be evacuated from their homes in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. Alan Freed/Reuters

Tiffani Kavalec, the head of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s water management subdivision, said in a news conference Tuesday that the plume is on its way towards Huntington, West Virginia, and that it consists mostly of “fire combustion chemicals.”

Kavalec said that the plume is moving downriver at around 1 mph and becoming increasingly more diluted, adding that the Ohio EPA doesn’t believe the chemicals pose a threat to drinking water.

The Ohio River is “able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly,” Kavalec said, adding that “we are seeing very low levels of contaminants” in the river.

EPA said that water sampling is being carried out at various points along the river to ensure drinking water is safe.

“State and local agencies are conducting sampling throughout the Ohio River to ensure drinking water intakes aren’t affected, and EPA is continuing to assist the state with sampling efforts at water treatment intake points along the Ohio River,” EPA said in a Feb. 14 update.

EPA has also been carrying out community air monitoring in East Palestine around the clock, saying in Tuesday’s update that it has “not detected any levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment.”

As of Tuesday, the agency had screened 396 homes and “no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified,” EPA said.

An aerial view shows a plume of smoke, following a train derailment that forced people to evacuate from their homes in East Palestine, on Feb. 6, 2023. Alan Freed/Reuters

Vinyl chloride, which is used in the production of PVC plastic, is highly flammable and poses significant health risks to humans.

Short-term exposure to high concentrations of the chemical can cause dizziness, headaches, and respiratory problems. Long-term exposure has been linked to various health problems, including liver damage, immune system dysfunction, and certain types of cancer.

After around 50 cars derailed in a fiery mess on the outskirts of the town on Feb. 3, there were fears that the vinyl chloride that was in some of the cars could lead to an uncontrolled explosion.

So officials had the area evacuated and technicians released and burned the hazardous chemical, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

But while EPA has said that air monitoring hasn’t detected any hazards to health associated with the derailment, some locals have told media outlets that their health has suffered since returning home.

Maura Todd said she and family members have experienced headaches and nausea.

“I’ve watched every news conference and I haven’t heard anything that makes me think that this is a data-driven decision,” Todd told The Washington Post. “We don’t feel like we have a whole lot of information.”

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, said in an interview with WKBN over the weekend that he was surprised at how quickly residents were told they could go back to their homes.

“I was surprised when they quickly told the people they can go back home, but then said if they feel like they want their homes tested they can have them tested. I would’ve far rather they did all the testing,” Caggiano told the outlet.

He said that there might be surges in cancer rates near East Palestine down the road.

“There’s a lot of what ifs, and we’re going to be looking at this thing 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, ‘Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad,” Caggiano said.

The Epoch Times has reached out to EPA for comment.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.