West Virginia American Water
Company President Jeff McIntyre cannot predict when the smell of the chemical
MCHM will be completely gone from the tap water in parts of nine West Virginia
McIntyre said water throughout
WVAW’s system continues to test well below the suggested “safe”
health level from the Centers for Disease Control, one part per million, even
though it still stinks of licorice, when running out of faucets, in many areas.
The last do-not-use water order
from WVAW was lifted on Friday, a week and a day after it was first issued
following a Jan. 9 leak of the coal processing chemical from Freedom Industries
into the Elk River in Charleston
Since all customer zones were
cleared, McIntyre said flushing work has resumed at that plant and will move
out from there in an attempt to completely push the chemical from the
water distribution system that services more than 300,000 West
Virginians .
McIntyre said he is drinking the
water, despite the smell, but he admitted he cannot force anyone else to do so.
