The Situation

As we all know, there was an 8,000-gallon chemical spill (latex emulsion) into the Northeast Philly/Bristol section of the Delaware River on Friday afternoon. The spill occurred less than 10 miles from the nearest water treatment plant.

The City informed the public on Sunday night of the situation. They suggested we drink bottled water, buy an extra gallon, and that more info would be available in 24 hours after more testing was completed.

Fortunately, things have looked alright so far. Tap water is good until midnight Wednesday. No idea how long it takes till the new spicy addition to our water supply reaches the Baxter plant but I hope the filtration system is up for the fight.

3 Quick Takeaways

1. I like to keep the fact that our tap water comes from the Delaware River buried as far in the back of my mind as I possibly can at all times. I’m simply trying to forget that fact as a whole.
   

2. Chemical spill or not, water treatment plants are marvels of science history.

   I genuinely don’t know what’s more impressive— Jesus turning water into wine or filtration systems making the Delaware water drinkable WITHOUT magic powers.

   It’s a toss up.

3. The spill occurred on Friday and the public was alerted on Sunday…

Don’t exactly love that.

Not sure what went on all day Saturday, but, considering the daily test updates, you’ve got to imagine they held onto the news for longer than they should have.

Maybe they didn’t want people to panic, maybe they didn’t have all the info, maybe, maybe, maybe…

Logical but likely dumb Questions:

Since we’ve been using less water over the last two days, would it take longer for that spill to reach the treatment center / testing site?

Like it’s backed up…?

That just feels like a dumb question when I type it out loud.

We’ll know more at 3:30pm.

And if the tests come back problematic,

Stay boujee, my friends.