"West Virginia Doctors Advising Some Patients Not To Drink Tap Water"
"Warnings come despite federal health officials declaring water was free from chemical contamination after January 9 spill."
Source: AP, 02/06/2014
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV)
EWG Database Helps Public, Journos Find Drinking Water Threats
While EPA and local utilities make much data available online, the Environmental Working Group has compiled a tap water database that is much easier to use. It gathers data from the states as well as from EPA, and compiles city-by-city rankings of the best and worst drinking water quality. It also explains the health significance of contaminants and lists contaminants not regulated by EPA.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Region:
Visibility:
CDC, EPA Respond to SEJ Complaints about Press Office Obstacles
After the SEJ and the Society of Professional Journalists complained January 20, 2014, about federal agency press office stonewalling in the face of the Charleston, WV, drinking water disaster, the agencies responded. Read the text of their replies here.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Region:
Visibility:
"Tests Said to Find Formaldehyde in West Virginia Tap Water"
"Tests on the water supply in Charleston, W. Va., a week after a chemical spill tainted the city’s water system turned up traces of formaldehyde, suggesting that 'there’s a lot more we don’t know' about the consequences of the spill, an environmental expert told a state legislative committee on Wednesday."
Source: NY Times, 01/30/2014
Drinking Water Crisis Reveals Knowledge Gaps
You read about the 300,000 West Virginians who don't know if they are drinking safe water — and ask "Could it happen here?" The answer is "You betcha!" Environmental journalists have many tools for discovering drinking-water disasters-waiting-to-happen in their own bailiwicks.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Visibility:
SEJ, SPJ Urge EPA, CDC to End Press Office Obstacles in Public Health Crises
Reporters scrambling to inform the 300,000 citizens of Charleston, West Virginia, about why they could not drink their tap water, what health threats it presented, and who was responsible faced a stone wall from most of the responsible government agencies in the early days of the crisis.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Visibility:
"Use of Water 'Your Decision,' Tomblin Says"
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Monday told 300,000 state residents that they should make their own decisions about using water from West Virginia American Water's Elk River plant in the wake of this month's leak of the chemical Crude MCHM."
Source: Charleston Gazette, 01/21/2014
"Freedom Industries Files for Bankruptcy"
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries, the company that fouled thousands of West Virginians' water with a chemical leak into the Elk River last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday."
Source: Charleston Gazette, 01/20/2014
"EPA Tries To Map a Toxic Legacy On And Under Metachem Site"
"Snow flurries rode a faint chemical breeze across Red Lion Creek marsh near Delaware City on Thursday as Environmental Protection Agency contractors maneuvered a sediment probe across cold muck and crackling reeds."
Source: Wilmington News Journal, 01/17/2014
Pages
Advertisement 
