Local professor explains concentration of contaminants in Ohio River after derailment

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - It is a nightmare for people who live in the immediate vicinity of the spill as chemicals seeping into the groundwater are a danger for those with private wells.

“The spill did flow to the Ohio River,” said Tiffani Kavalec with Environmental Protection Agency at the Governor’s press conference on Tuesday.

But anyone along the Ohio River where the contaminants made their way can breathe a sigh of relief. UC’s assistant professor of environmental engineering, Patrick Ray, who's main research revolves around studying the Ohio River, said it's not a factor in your life.

“The reason why it goes down in concentration as it goes down the river is because it spreads out, it dilutes, and it disperses and then the concentration goes down. And the magic word is concentration. We care that there is not too much of a concentration at one place at one time because that’s what we use to measure risks to human health,” said Ray.

The chemicals have passed Wheeling and won’t reach Huntington for about 3 more days. The contaminants are moving a mile an hour. They won’t reach Cincinnati until sometime next week. They are detecting the harmful chemicals at 4 parts per billion.

The level we care about is about 500 parts per billion and the current level in the Ohio River is about 4,” said Ray.

If harmful chemicals did head down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, the water treatment facility is well equipped to handle that. In 2014, the Elk River chemical spill had so many harmful chemicals in the Ohio it took two days to pass our area. The treatment plant was able to hold two days’ worth of drinking water and not pull from the river. And on top of that, they have several ways to clean the water, something the facility practiced this past weekend just as a precaution after this most recent spill.