8,000 gallons of toxic chemicals spill into Ohio River

[mrdylan]

8,000 gallons of toxic chemicals spill into Ohio River

 

 

BROOKPORT, Illinois (CNN) -- As many as 8,000 gallons of a toxic solvent spilled into the Ohio River Wednesday after a barge hit an underwater dam, Coast Guard and Illinois state officials told CNN.

 

Lt. Wayne Chapman of the U.S. Coast Guard said the barge, owned by Kirby Marine, hit the wicket dam, which is a type of movable dam, near Brookport and began leaking cumene, a solvent used to produce other chemicals.

 

So far, officials said, there's no threat to public drinking water. Water intake stations along the river have not reported finding the chemical in their systems, Chapman said.

 

The solvent floats on top of water and easily evaporates, he added.

 

Maggie Carson of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield that experts are trying to determine the environmental impact of the spill.

 

"There's a tremendous volume of water going through there, so there's a dilution factor, and this will be taken into consideration as they try to take measures to contain it," she said.

 

Kirby Marine is working to get another barge to the site to offload the rest of the cumene from the ruptured barge, Chapman said.

 

 

 

And they are worried about drinking water.

 

read about it here.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/28/toxic.spill/index.html

[Carp]

Heard about it on the news tonight.

 

Hope they're right about it evaporating ?

[bucktail]

The good news is that solvents are almost always lighter then water and can be cleaned up fairly easily and won't interact with the environment as much as soluble chemicals.

Sounds bad but in spring with high water it wont hurt much.

BTW my profession is water treatment ;-)

Edited March 1, 2007 by bucktail

[skiel]

Found this on an web site.... Might not be too bad. Just really wish stuff like this did not happen in the foirst place, Maybe better pacakaging of the product could of helped.... who knows at this point.

 

 

 

 

What effect might cumene (1-methylethylbenzene) have on the environment?

 

Cumene evaporates when exposed to air. In the air it is reacted quickly into other chemicals, in the water and soil bacteria break it down. It has moderate acute (short-term) toxicity on aquatic life, and high acute toxicity to birds. Insufficient data are available to predict the toxicity of cumene to plants and land animals. It has moderate chronic (long-term) toxicity to aquatic life. Cumene is expected to minimally bioaccumulate.

How might cumene (1-methylethylbenzene) enter the environment?

 

Industrial emissions of cumene can produce elevated concentrations in the atmosphere around the source. Because of its short life expectancy in the atmosphere cumene is expected to be confined to the local area within which it is emitted. Cumene that makes its way into the ground, and does not evaporate, is degraded in the water with in days. Because cumene is used in many consumer products , and found in tobacco smoke, short-term indoor concentrations may be elevated above the levels considered safe for workers.

Where in the environment does cumene (1-methylethylbenzene) end up?

 

Cumene evaporates to a gas if released as a liquid. It will break down in the air in a few days into other chemicals (isopropylphenols). In the water (very little will enter the water) bacteria will break it down in three to ten days. Cumene is a volatile organic chemical (VOC) and will contribute to the formation of smog.

[OhioFisherman]

8,000 gallons? small potatoes! probably twice that number of people pee in it!

[mattyk]

I hope that doesn't affect the sauger run that we get in a few weeks.

[Garyv]

A few years back we had a jet empty it's fuel over Lake Huron in the area I live. They claimed the evaporation would occur before any contamination would happen to the water supply. I still didn't drink piped water for over a week. Not to make light of the situation but catah and release also might be in order.

 

Here's a bit more information on Cumene don't sound like good stuff to me.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumene

Edited March 1, 2007 by Garyv