Water Company Delayed Locating Potential Elk River Contamination Sites

"Back in April 2006, officials from West Virginia American Water told state regulators they were planning to review the Elk River watershed to find out what potential contamination sources were upstream from their Kanawha Valley water treatment plant.

Water company officials told the state Bureau for Public Health the same thing in August 2006, and again in March 2008, state records show.

Three times over a two-year period, West Virginia American officials marked a “P” — meaning “Planning to do” — next to a question about whether the company was going to “review” the treatment plant’s watershed “for potential contaminant sources.”

The review was not completed — and it still hasn’t been."

Ken Ward Jr. reports for the Charleston Gazette August 17, 2014.