The nearly 60 mile-long plume of toxic 4-methyl-cyclo-hexane methane, or MCHM, from Charleston, WV is slowly, but surely, making its way down the Ohio River.
And it’s expected to arrive in Evansville this weekend.
Evansville Water and Sewer Utility officials are keeping tabs on the chemical with reports from treatment facilities downstream, like in Louisville and Cincinnati.
Evansville’s Utility Director Allen Mounts said the plume has diluted “significantly” as it flows downstream, and now the primary concern is the licorice-like smell that MCHM produces.
“We are fortunate that we don’t have to react to it. We know when it’s coming and when we need to have the treatment in place," Mounts said. "As opposed to a utility close by the chemical spill, we have plenty of time to plan and appropriately, remove any impurities that may reach us.”
And if any impurities do reach us, the EWSU says it would treat the water with activated carbon, which would remove the chemical and odor associated to it.
Mounts tells WNIN it would be safe to drink, safe enough that he would drink it too.