Latex spill in the Upper Potomac (North Branch)

From WHAG in Hagerstown, MD:

Updated 09/25 2015 11:18PM

Incident happened at Verso paper mill on Wednesday

ALLEGANY COUNTY, Md.

The Maryland Department of the Environment is investigating after a paper mill in Allegany County had a chemical spill of nearly 10,000 gallons of latex.



And some of that material filtered its way into the North Branch of the Potomac River.
The incident occurred at the Verso paper mill in Luke, over a period of four hours on Wednesday. It has many residents concerned for wildlife, and the safety of drinking water.

“The question you have to ask is are the treatment systems that are in place going to be able to handle this kind of pollution, this chemical pollution,” said Brent Walls of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network. He saw what he called a “green, milky, whitish kind of color” in the river on Friday near the Allegany County Fairgrounds.

“That’s the big worry – what’s going to happen there.”

The city of Cumberland, which is near the spill site, is fortunate to draw drinking water from
sources in Bedford County, Pa. But towns and cities further down river, like Paw Paw, W.Va. and Hagerstown, rely on the Potomac.

“There are many cities below Cumberland on the river that do use the Potomac River as drinking water,” said Michael Daum, superintendent of the Cumberland Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The latex spill was discharged through the Upper Potomac River Commission Plant. Verso officials said what was released is not a major threat.

“There was no release into the river – it was contained into the sewer system,” said Miranda Kessel of Verso Corporation. “Quite frankly, it’s a false alarm. Latex is a common, non-hazardous polymer used in product coating.”

But some feel this could turn into a situation similar to Charleston, W.Va. last year, where a chemical spill affected intakes and cut off water supply to over 300,000 people.

The Department of the Environment is continuing the investigation with many unknowns still present.

“Any facility that has above-ground storage tanks, works and manages and handles toxic chemicals along the riverbanks, should have those MSDS’s (material safety data sheets) available quickly and efficiently for those that are in charge and have to do these investigations,” Walls said. “And that was not done here.”

Currently, the Department of the Environment said there are no indications of fish kill, and it has notified drinking water facilities in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia of the chemical spill. They estimate the spilled material would reach Hagerstown’s water treatment plant around October 6.