News

Jul 29, 2023

What Spilled in the Delaware River? A Local Expert Explains

Officials believe about 8,100 gallons of a 'water soluble acrylic polymer solution' poured into a tributary of the Delaware River after a pipe burst at a facility in Bristol this past weekend. The

Officials believe about 8,100 gallons of a 'water soluble acrylic polymer solution' poured into a tributary of the Delaware River after a pipe burst at a facility in Bristol this past weekend.

The company responsible for the chemical spill, Trinseo, said the latex emulsion product that spilled into the river was "approximately 50-percent water and the remainder latex polymer."

According to the company, the latex emulsion is "a white liquid that is used in various consumer goods." The company said the chemical has a pigmentation that "makes the water-soluble material visible in surface water."

So far, officials have said there have been no traces of this chemical detected in the City's water supply.

But, Charles Haas, a professor of environmental engineering at Drexel University, said that it might be some time before anyone can be sure that this chemical has been completely removed from the river, because the emulsion is water soluble.

"How much actually got into the Delaware River itself, I think, is unclear but, I looked up the flow in the river," noted Haas in a recent interview with NBC10's Lauren Mayk. "The low flow in the Delaware over the last week is four million gallons a minute. So, 8,000 gallons in the spill max versus four million gallons a minute. You have a tremendous amount of potential for dilution."

However, Haas said the city is fortunate because it's water system uses a raw water basin, which can help protect residents from contaminants like this from ending up in tap water.

"It's a storage basin -- a big big bathtub -- that can hold maybe one to two days of flow. So, if an incident occurs in the river it can shut off intake from the river and draw down what’s been accumulated," he said.

However, if local residents are concerned that there could be trace amounts of the chemical in the drinking water, Haas said, there's not much you can do to protect yourself.

Boiling water won't remove the latex emulsion and, he said, commercial water purifiers, like a Brita filter, aren't powerful enough to pull the chemical from the water.

"Commercial water purifiers really aren’t going to work against this - and testing requires a sophisticated laboratory," said Haas. “Boil water notices are typically when you have microbiological contamination, bacteria, viruses. With many chemicals you can’t boil it out of the water."

Still, city officials on Monday evening claimed the water is currently safe to drink, cook with and bathe in -- at least through Tuesday afternoon.