Philadelphia residents stockpile bottled water
Philadelphia residents were seen carting out boxes of bottled water after a Sunday advisory suggested residents drink bottled water due a latex product spill in the Delaware River. (WTXF)
Philadelphia water officials announced Tuesday that tap water was “safe to drink” following a chemical spill last week.
“We are continually testing water from the Delaware River as it comes into our Baxter treatment plant. Based on updated results, we remain confident that tap water from Baxter is safe to drink and use at least through 11:59 p.m., Wed., March 29, 2023,” the Philadelphia Water Department tweeted Tuesday morning.
Officials had previously said the water would be safe through Tuesday, but later updated to say Wednesday.
The update comes after the water department advised residents to drink from bottled water due to a Friday leak at the Trinseo Altuglas chemical facility in Bristol Township. Officials said between 8,100 and 12,000 gallons of a water-based latex finishing solution leaked into the Delaware River, just upstream of the Baxter Treatment Plant that provides drinking water for 975,000 Philadelphia customers.
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Children play along the Delaware River where a stop sign has been placed in the water at Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia March 26, 2023. (Thomas Hengge/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Officials sent out the bottled water advisory Sunday, telling residents that no contaminants had been found in the drinking system after testing but advised people to switch to bottled water “out of an abundance of caution.”
The Sunday advisory prompted many Philadelphia residents to flock to their nearest grocery stores to stockpile on bottled water, leaving shelves completely barren.
Videos on social media began to circulate showing never-ending grocery check-out lines with residents pushing several boxes of bottled water up to the register. One user even deemed the scene the “Water Apocalypse 2023.”
A sign on the front door of a Walgreens in Center City located in Philadelphia March 26, 2023. (Thomas Hengge/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Philadelphia Police Department, along with officials from the DEP and Philadelphia OEM performed a flyover in the area where evidence of the spill was expected to be found but reported no visual evidence of a spill. Testing at the Baxter Water Plant also reported no contaminates in the Philadelphia water system, according to officials during a Sunday morning press conference.
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City officials said they have been testing samples from as many as a dozen locations. No contaminants related to the discharge have been found so far.
Sold out water section in Giant Supermarket in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia March 26, 2023. (Thomas Hengge/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
U.S. Coast Guard tests of Delaware River water and city tests of water in the river near the treatment plant intake have not shown signs of contamination, said Mike Carroll, deputy managing director for the city’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability, according to Fox 29. Carroll also said he does not believe the spill conditions will last longer than Thursday.
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Officials have said the product is non-toxic to humans, with no known adverse health effects being reported in the county thus far.
