TBD

Abstract

As you have likely heard by now, there was recently a leak of MCHM (4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol) into the drinking water supply in the city of Charleston, West Virginia. It turns out that there was actually more than MCHM involved in the leak, but since the company failed to notify the authorities about the additional chemical(s), they weren’t included in the initial tests for water safety.

The leaking tank problem generated a lot of press because it caused such a large problem to the local community, shutting off the city’s water supply for many days. A couple of interesting problems have been highlighted in the news discussions. One of these was the lack of understanding of the hazards associated with the leaked material. Apparently, the best information available to emergency response personnel was obtained from the material safety data sheets (MSDS). Unfortunately, almost all of the important safety information was listed as “unknown.”