A Discussion on the Threatening Issue of the Pollution of Charleston Water

Based on the text from the link, there is a population of 300,000 people in Charleston, West Virginia, who require water from their reserves from daily operations ranging from drinking, bathing, and laundry.  But due to the current state of water, the residents avoid using the tap water at all costs despite government assurance that the water was now safe for all kinds of uses (Dickson, 2013 n.p). The only water they believe they could consume is bottled water while others have gone to some extent of totally avoiding using the water (Gerlak, 2014, n.

p).  The only used the water from the storage supply and river Elk in flushing toilets. It mostly affects those people who are not able to purchase bottled water since in some areas; the water still has chemical odor indicating that the water are not safe yet. There are people who have decided to deliver jugs of water to people in Charleston; some have rented small apartments at St.

Albans in order to do their laundry and wash their kids with clean water. If the problem is not solved, soon most families will leave the area for good that results in brain drain (Dickson, 2013 n.p). In other words, some professionals and other highly skilled personnel may decide to move to other regions with clean water (Gerlak, 2014, n.p).

The quality of water within Charleston was quite low due to the contamination by a leak from a chemical storage where a one-inch hole had opened. Crude MCHM substance that came from the chemical storage tank spilled into the river Elk and water supply of Charleston, West Virginia serving about 300,000 people.

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The members of Congress of West Virginia requested laws to ensure all chemical facilities are tested for safety for the surrounding and its’ residents. But there are people who were skeptical about this, for instance, Prof Brad, who believed that, no significant changes would be implemented anytime soon. Also, he believes that the industry will bribe the politicians to cover them, and little will happen (Dickson, 2013 n.p). The contamination of the water forced people to use bottled water and others move out to other regions in search for clean water. Those people who cannot afford bottled water and cannot also move out of Charleston keep on using the water basing on the government assurance despite the chemical odor from the water (Dickson, 2013 n.p).

References

1. Dickson, K. L., Maki, A. W., & Brungs, W. A. (Eds.). (2013). Fate and effects of sediment-bound chemicals in aquatic systems: proceedings of the sixth Pellston Workshop, Florissant, Colorado, August 12-17, 1984. Elsevier. 
2. Gerlak, A. K. (2014). 3. Federalism and US water policy. Federal Rivers: Managing Water in Multi-Layered Political Systems.