Erie County Water Issues Alert on Ohio Water After Train Derailment

This afternoon Erie County Water Authority issued a "customer alert" regarding the condition of the water supply. The customer alert was in reference to the February 3rd Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Earlier this month there was a train derailment in East Palestine where residents were reporting issues of getting rashes from the water after taking a shower or bathing, needing bottled water and toxic chemicals in the air and/or water. The derailment has had some serious news coverage as many that live in the area were evacuated. Experts had to do a controlled burn of vinyl chloride as a prevention measure in East Palestine.

What does that have to do with Erie County all the way in New York State? 

The Erie County Water Authority notes that there is a lot of incorrect information going around on social media and that the information was scaring some people. I saw some of the information being shared on Facebook over the weekend and thought that some of it did seem fishy.

Erie County Water's email that came on Sunday afternoon was to make sure that people in Western New York felt safe to drink and use the water. They are insuring that the water we drink and use is "very safe and of high quality".

highly improbable that residual chemicals or toxins from the derailed train have navigated to ECWA water sources, including Lake Erie and the Niagara River", the customer alert reads.

East Palestine's watershed flows southwest toward the Mississippi River and is geographically isolated from Lake Erie's watershed, making it impossible for chemical residuals from the derailment to enter our area's water sources.

You can reach the Erie County Water Authority here.