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June 4 th , 2014 Northern Kentucky Water District Erlanger, KY

Elk River Spill Event: Debriefing and Evaluation of Downstream Spill Response Activities. June 4 th , 2014 Northern Kentucky Water District Erlanger, KY. AGENDA. Overview of Event ORSANCO’s Response State and Federal Agency Response  WV, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana USCG, USEPA

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June 4 th , 2014 Northern Kentucky Water District Erlanger, KY

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  1. Elk River Spill Event: Debriefing and Evaluation of Downstream Spill Response Activities June 4th, 2014Northern Kentucky Water DistrictErlanger, KY

  2. AGENDA • Overview of Event • ORSANCO’s Response • State and Federal Agency Response •  WV, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana • USCG, USEPA • Drinking Water Utility Response • Response Component Analysis

  3. Elk River Spill Event Timeline • 8:15 am, Jan. 9th, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials received air complaints concerning odor around Freedom Industries Storage Tanks • 10:30 am, Jan. 9th, employees with Freedom Industries discovered coal processing chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) has leaked from a steel storage tank into the Elk River, just 1.5 miles upstream of the intake for West Virginia American Water • 12:00 pm, Jan. 9th, WV DEP personnel arrive on site to investigate • 12:05 pm, Jan. 9th, Freedom Industries called state hotline to report leak

  4. Elk River Spill Event Timeline • At 5:45 pm, Jan. 9th, West Virginia American Water issued a “do not use except for toilet flushing and fire fighting” order • Jan. 9th, 10,000 gallons of crude MCHM were released into the Elk River

  5. Elk River Spill Tracking Timeline Wednesday, Jan 16th, 0700 Sunday, Jan 12th, 1300 Friday, Jan 17th, 0530 Saturday Jan 11th, 0230 Sunday, Jan 19th, 2330 Thursday, Jan 9th, 1200 Sunday, Jan 12th, 2139 Monday, Jan 13th , 0300 Monday, Jan 13th, 1400 Tuesday, Jan 15th, 0600 Huntington – Portsmouth = 14 hrs @ 2.7 mph Thursday, Jan 23rd, 1000

  6. ORSANCO’S ROLE IN SPILL EVENTS • Communication • Communicate spill/incident information to all affected stakeholders • Contaminant Plume Modeling • Estimate time of travel to drinking water intakes and other asset points • Dams, power plants, sampling locations, etc. • Calculate instream contaminant concentration • Provide on-river response • Sampling and logistical support • Contaminant plume monitoring

  7. ORSANCO’S ROLE IN SPILL EVENTS • Analytical Support • Provide analytical support utilizing Organics Detection System and other in-house and contract analytical methods as needed.

  8. ORSANCO Elk River Spill Team • Jerry Schulte • Lila Ziolkowski • Travis Luncan • Sam Dinkins • Lisa Cochran • Stacey Cochran • Eben Hobbins • Ryan Argo >50% of ORSANCO technical staff

  9. Emergency Response Cooperation • All affected drinking water utilities • WVDEP • WV DHHR • PA AM Water • KY DOW • KY Office of DW/ER • OH EPA • OH Office of DW/ER • IDEM DW/ER • ILEPA/ER • USCG Huntington • USEPA 3, 4, 5 • USACE • NOAA/AHPS

  10. COMMUNICATION • Received initial report Jan 9 • Began validation of reported information • Communicated information to T. Luncan • Fortuitously(?) in route to Huntington • Communicated information to WV-AM Huntington • Communicated information to other downstream stakeholders: drinking water utilities, ODS operators, state/federal agencies, etc. • Sustained spill communications through Jan 23rd

  11. COMMUNICATION • Most drinking water utility/agency communication via phone or email • Posted information to website starting Monday, Jan 13 • Updates provided, but not daily • Remote command center established at ORSANCO offices to improve communications with USEPA, states

  12. COMMUNICATION • Communicated information to press/media • Print, broadcast and internet media • Worked with utility (Cincinnati/Louisville) media relations personnel for consistency in messaging • First spill event w/o Jeanne Ison, ORSANCO Public Information Programs Director • Consistency in information released/not released

  13. 2. Contaminant Plume Modeling • Provide time of travel estimates to drinking water utilities • Use Ohio River model developed specifically for Ohio River and ORSANCO • Uses USACE Cascade model output; 249 “nodes” • Cascade program to be terminated in near future • HEC-RAS model to take its place; 1 mile resolution • Hydrologic Engineering Center - River Analysis System • Better forecast resolution @ 1 mile • Ohio River model needs to be updated • Include tributary modeling • Ohio River Basin Emergency Management Tool*

  14. Contaminant Plume Modeling • Model projections provided to utilities and agencies • Updates provided based on accurate plume data • Winfield, Huntington, Cincinnati, Louisville • Release of model predictions to media?

  15. 3. On-River Response • No ORSANCO river sampling equipment deployed • Coordinated river sampling efforts of USCG and KYDOW • ORSANCO personnel collected shore-line/boat ramp and dam access river water samples • Sample collection – Analytical capacity

  16. 4. Analytical • Travis in route to Huntington to calibrate new GC/MS • Trip redefined to spill support • Worked with utilities from Jan 9th to Jan 18th • Combination of efforts between Travis/Lila/Sandy Johnson, GCWW staff, Louisville Water Co. staff • Successfully developed methods for 3 GC types: Thermo GC/MS; Agilent, CMS. • All GCs detected MCHM, at different detection levels • Communication of analytical methods

  17. ORGANICS DETECTION SYSTEM • Integral to protection of drinking water utilities • Primary tool for tracking spill/characterizing MCHM plume • All GCs detected MCHM • Primary reliance on GC/MS w/heated sparge vessel • Huntington, Cincinnati, Louisville water companies • Real, or near real time ODS data availability

  18. Thermo Gas Chromatograph with Mass Spectrometer Detector (GC/MS)

  19. Inficon CMS 5000

  20. Kanawha River, Winfield L & DKanawha River Mile 31 = 29 river miles Winfield first detection Jan 11, 0230; last detection Jan 11, 1600. Est. 50 hour duration

  21. Winfield – Huntington ComparisonKRM 31 ORM 304 = 99 river miles

  22. Winfield – Huntington ComparisonKRM 31 ORM 304 = 99 river miles Huntington first detection Jan 12, 1630; last detection Jan 14, 0355. 35 hour duration Concentration, ppb

  23. Huntington - CincinnatiORM 304 ORM 463 = 159 river miles Cincinnati first detection Jan 15, 0700; last detection Jan 16, 0300. 20 hour duration

  24. Huntington - Cincinnati – Louisville ORM 304 ORM 463 ORM 600 = 296 river miles Louisville first detection Jan 17 ,1105; last detection Jan 17, 2105. 10 hour duration

  25. MCHM Plume Behavior

  26. MCHM Plume Behavior

  27. Ohio River Basin Emergency Management Tool* • Update spill model • Work on tributaries as well as mainstem Ohio River • Combine in comprehensive GIS • Geo reference all potential contaminant sources • Tanks, pipelines, rail sidings, transfer points, etc. • Integrate potential contaminant sources with drinking water intake locations (and other sensitive areas) with flow and velocity information for real-time time of travel/arrival data • Secure web based

  28. Ohio River Basin Emergency Management Tool* • Incorporate EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act ) Title III, Tier II Chemical Inventory • Incorporate Emergency Procedures Guide analytical and treatment methods for known compounds • Ohio River Basin Emergency Management Tool for Drinking Water Utilities

  29. Plume Location/Characterization • First river sample collected/analyzed by T. Luncan from Kanawha River, John Amos Plant, 1/10 @ 100ppb • Would have continued sampling, plant personnel left for weekend • T. Luncan collects samples from Kanawha River locations to begin characterizing plume • J. Schulte works with WVDEP to develop sampling strategy at Winfield L&D to characterize plume • 24 hourly samples collected by WVDEP • J. Schulte transports; GCWW analyzes • Data provided to Huntington 1/12

  30. Needle Relay! • 1/11 – TL informs JS of broken sample needle at Huntington. GC down. Spare needle at Louisville. • JS contacts Robby Francis, KYDES • Robby develops needle relay from Louisville to Huntington • Needle arrives in Huntington by 2:00pm • Huntington operational by 3:00pm

  31. Modeling • Ohio River Spill Model • Uses Corps Flowsed data • 243 data nodes • Modeled from stage reports from 20 L&D locations • National weather service flow - velocity information • 21 locations • Dam locations • Upper/lower • Mid-pool locations • Projections communicated to water utilities, etc.

  32. TIME OF TRAVEL • BACK OF ENVELOPE CALCULATIONS • AS GOOD AS MODEL!

  33. New ODS Analyte List • Styrene (co-elutes with o,pxylenes) • Bromoform • 1,3 Dichlorobenzene • 1,4 Dichlorobenzene • 1,2 Dichlorobenzene • Acrylonitrile • 1,2 Dichloroethane • trans-1,2 Dichloroethylene • cis-1,3 Dichloropropene • trans-1,3 Dichloropopene • Hexachloro-1,3-butadiene • 1,1, 2,2 Tetrachloroethane • 1,1,2 Trichloroethane • Trichlorofluoromethane • Napthalene • Methylene Chloride • 1,1 Dichloroethylene • 1,1 Dichloroethane • Chloroform • 1,1,1 Trichloroethane • Carbon Tetrachloride • Benzene • Trichloroethylene • 1,2 Dichloropropane • Dichlorobromomethane • Toluene • Tetrachloroethylene • Dibromochloromethane • Ethylbenzene • Chlorobenzene

  34. Elk River/MCHM SpillJanuary 9th- 23rd, 2014

  35. 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) • A chemical foam used to wash coal and remove impurities that contribute to pollution during combustion • Very Strong Licorice-like odor • MCHM is not considered a “hazardous chemical”. • Minimal health and safety data on the chemical

  36. Affected Counties

  37. Elk River/Freedom Industry Release

  38. Elk River/Freedom Industry Release

  39. Elk River/Freedom Industry Release

  40. Elk River/Freedom Industry Release

  41. Freedom Industries Storage Tanks

  42. Elk River/Freedom Industry Release Elk River/Freedom Industry Release Winfield Locks and Dam KRM 31.1

  43. Winfield Locks and Dam

  44. Tracking MCHM in the Ohio River ODS and Threshold Odor Detections Wednesday, Jan 16th, 0700 Sunday, Jan 12th, 1300 Friday, Jan 17th, 0530 Saturday Jan 11th, 0230 Sunday, Jan 19th, 2330 Thursday, Jan 9th, 1200 Sunday, Jan 12th, 2139 Monday, Jan 13th , 0300 Monday, Jan 13th, 1400 Tuesday, Jan 15th, 0600 Huntington – Portsmouth = 14 hrs @ 2.7 mph Thursday, Jan 23rd, 1000

  45. Emergency Response Cooperation • WVDEP • WV American Water • WV DHHR • PA AM Water • KY DOW • KY Office of DW/ER • OH EPA • OH Office of DW/ER • Cincinnati Water Works • Louisville Water Co. • IDEM DW/ER • Evansville Water • ILEPA/ER • IL American Water • USCG Huntington • USEPA 3, 4, 5 • ODS & H2O utilities

  46. Ohio River Focus Groups

  47. Four Ohio River Focus Groups • Upper River • Regions 3 - 5 • Together 14 years! • Huntington Area Spill Coordination Group • Newest, one meeting so far, second one scheduled • Cincinnati Area Focus Group • 3 years, incident action plan • Great River Spill Response Group

  48. A Spill of National Significance Passed State Legislature March 8, 2014

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