Philadelphia residents have been told they may only want to drink bottled water after a chemical spilled into the Delaware River in neighboring Bucks County.
Bucks County health officials said Sunday that a leak late Friday night at the Trincio Altoglass chemical facility in the town of Bristol spilled between 8,100 and 12,000 gallons of aqueous latex solution into a river. Officials said it is not toxic to humans and no known adverse health effects have been reported in the county.
Mike Carroll, deputy director general of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability, said there was no sign of pollutants in the city’s water but officials “can’t be 100 percent sure” the effects won’t be seen Sunday afternoon. He called the health risks from the substance “very low if there were any,” but said officials wanted people to be aware so they could consider using bottled water for drinking or cooking to reduce any risks.
Officials said the entrances to the Baxter drinking water treatment plant were closed after the spill, but were opened overnight to maintain minimum water levels to avoid damage to equipment and to provide water for fire safety and other basic needs.
State environmental officials are leading the response. Pennsylvania American Water said its Yardley Water Treatment plant 15 miles (24 kilometers) upstream remains unaffected. Aqua said it had shut off access to Bristol’s water system to protect customers and had not noticed any impact from the leak.
Trincio Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering, Tim Thomas Tell WPVI-TV said on Saturday that the material posed no danger to the public. “It’s like the stuff you find in paint,” he told the station. “It’s your typical acrylic paint that you have in your house, that’s what this material really is, in a water-based base.”