At the Evansville Water and Sewer utility, a tabletop machine whirrs and hums, rotating small vials of river water to test for a bevy of harmful chemicals.
The machine is a chromatogram mass spectrometer, one of many instruments that outfit this laboratory.
“(It) has the ability to split apart ions and then concentrate them. So we can actually see if there's a contaminant in the water,” said Water Quality Manager Brenna Caudill.
On Wednesday morning, the City of Evansville provided updates on the potential threat of contaminated drinking water due to the chemical train derailment in Palestine, Ohio. This village is 250 miles away but chemicals could have leached into the Ohio River.
They’re now looking for chemicals like vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, which were present at the crash.
The City of Louisville is upriver from the tri-state area; those chemicals can be detected before they reach Evansville. According to Lane Young, executive director of the utility, none have manifested.
“Based on the most recent tests that we have, there is not any level that is harmful,” Young said. “So we know that. We're doing the carbon just as an extra measure, so people can feel safe.”
The city will be treating incoming water with carbon before it reaches the area homes. Young says residents can keep drinking the water which will have traveled more than 700 river miles to get here.
Between 5 p.m. Wednesday, and 2 a.m. Thursday, the water potentially affected by the derailment will pass through the city water treatment system.
Young says the distance and volume of water has dissipated any harmful chemicals.
“Rest assured your water is safe. And we're monitoring it every day, which we do we take multiple samples a day.”
Young says there have been rumors about the water being unsafe to use or drink but this is inaccurate.
