Carbon water filters put into service in EP | News, Sports, Jobs - Morning Journal

Jun 24, 2024

The carbon filters bought by Norfolk Southern to protect East Palestine’s municipal water supply in the wake of last year’s train derailment are shown this winter before a structure to house the filters were built. The system was put into service on June 20. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)

EAST PALESTINE — The Village of East Palestine announced last week that the carbon filtration system – meant to protect the East Palestine municipal water supply from any impacts from last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment – is now online.

In a statement posted on the village’s website, East Palestine Water Superintendent Scott Wolfe reported that “the new Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filtration system was placed into service on June 20.”

“The filters were part of a contingency plan out in place because of the train derailment,” the statement read. “The GAC filters added another layer of protection to the village’s water treatment plant now and into the future.”

The carbon filters, bought by Norfolk Southern and manufactured by Calgon, are precautionary protection for the municipal water supply. Council first announced plans to install the carbon-filtration system during a March 2023 meeting. Wolfe said that carbon filters were the direction the village was headed before the derailment and stressed the filters, which comply with the new federal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) guidelines, were a proactive approach taken by the village.

The filters and the construction costs to build the 101- foot by 42-foot structure needed to house the system cost $661,481. The village received an additional $4.2 million from the railroad to ” keep the East Palestine municipal water safe.”

The statement from Wolfe also reported that that “sampling of the municipal and monitoring wells will continue on a monthly basis.”

Previously, East Palestine’s municipal water supply was tested weekly for 190 chemicals, including both volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds and glycols using a sentinel-well system — 20-plus sentinel wells were installed between the known area of contamination and the village’s wellfield. To date, no derailment-related chemicals have been detected in raw or treated water.

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