West Virginia Chemical Spill – The Only Good News

By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director (Follow Lynn on Twitter - @LTCWA) For the last few days, hundreds of thousands of people in West Virginia were miserable.  Not only were they concerned about their health in the face of the chemical spill at Freedom Industries, but they did not have water for other daily needs including taking baths and showers or washing clothes.  And yet, there was one positive thing about the last six days and part of me wishes it wouldn’t end. Since last Friday, the eyes and ears of the nation have been on tap water and on questions about how we protect our drinking water sources.  For someone like me who spends much of my day working on drinking water issues, this was rewarding in a twisted way.  Now everyone will see how important it is to prevent unnecessary risks to drinking water sources!  Finally people will understand the role of local, state and federal government in reducing the likelihood of an accident like this!  At last, chemical storage companies and all sorts of other players will want to work with Public Water Systems and government to make sure their operations don’t threaten precious water resources!  And perhaps we will understand the immense importance of the job being done by the Public Water Systems which treat and distribute tap water to over 85% of us! Will these things happen? Public attention will move on to the next thing. The changes we need will impact powerful interests, and some of them will be less than eager to change.  The policy questions will get complicated.  There will be acronyms and calculations involved. And politics.  Putting Drinking Water First will mean pressing on through all of these complications to make progress on preventing risks to drinking water sources where they start.  Let’s get to it.