Report: Storage Tanks Pose Risks to West Virginia Water
Drinking water sources in West Virginia are at risk of contamination from more than 20,000 aboveground storage tanks that are located beyond an area where extra safeguards are required, according to a report released last week.
These tanks include 19,133 located 1 to 5 miles from groundwater intakes and 2,143 located 1 to 5 miles from surface water intakes, said the report released by Downstream Strategies, an environmental consulting firm, and the nonprofit West Virginia Rivers Coalition.
The report recommends strict regulation of these tanks.
The findings are based on an analysis of more than 47,000 tanks registered with the state, the firm and the coalition said.
The most immediate threat is posed by 3,167 tanks upstream from surface and groundwater water intakes. Extra safeguards are required for tanks in these zones under a state law passed in response to a 2014 chemical spill that spurred a tap-water ban for 300,000 people for days.
“It’s remarkable to see the number of tanks so close to rivers or streams,” said Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. “So while it’s appropriate to look most closely at tanks closest to existing drinking water intakes, focusing protection efforts solely on those zones would miss thousands of tanks that could easily harm our water supplies.”
Tank operators range from oil and natural gas producers to local governments and public service districts. Substances stored in tanks include brine, crude oil, diesel, salts, natural gas, motor oil and calcium chloride. Sixteen tanks in the state contain MCHM, the coal-cleaning chemical that leaked last January from a Freedom Industries tank in Charleston.
Industry groups, like oil and gas interests, say regulations on aboveground storage tanks are overly broad and focus should shift to those near water supplies.
Some minor adjustments to the law might be warranted, the report said. But it recommended maintaining the law’s fundamental protections.