A chemical leak at Elk River on January made state officials impose strict water use restrictions to over 300,000 people in nine West Virginia counties. This is so because the chemical leaked into this river, upstream from the West Virginia American treatment facility. They imposed the restrictions after discovering that about 7500 gal of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol had spilled out of the storage tank about a mile upriver of freedom industries, which was a specialty chemical company (Lindsay 8). The governor affirmed nine counties in West Virginia a disaster region because the spill contaminated the drinking water.
The smell of licorice ...
