Emergency crews are working to flush corrosive water out of Longview after a deadly explosion at Japan’s Dynawave paper mill.
LONGVIEW, Wash. — Emergency crews continued working Thursday to flush contaminated water through a ditch system in Longview following a fatal implosion at Japan’s Dynawave paper mill.
Officials say water affected by the corrosive white liquor release is being removed from residential areas and the city’s drinking water supply, then diluted and discharged into the Columbia River. The action is overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington Department of Ecology.
Brooks Stanfield, the EPA’s federal on-site coordinator, said crews deployed air monitors both inside and outside the site because of concerns about possible exposure to hydrogen sulfide. Stanfield said the monitors have not detected any air pollutants so far, but the EPA plans to continue monitoring air quality for the foreseeable future.
“I can report to you that we have been monitoring 24 hours a day since we got here. Not only have we not seen anything that exceeds the health standards, but we have actually not detected hydrogen sulfide or any other air pollutant that we might encounter. So that’s really good news,” Stanfield said.
Officials are pumping water from fire hydrants in the Cowlitz River and Highland communities into a ditch system while operating the Reno Pumping Station, which discharges into the Columbia River.
Stanfield said the elevated pH was first detected in the ditch on Tuesday and has since migrated through the system.
Officials began flushing the water Wednesday because the ditch sits above an aquifer that provides residents with drinking water.
“It’s definitely safe to drink and they’re monitoring it very hard, but we don’t want to take the risk. So we’re taking this threat seriously and pushing this water out west,” Stanfield said.
Two drainage pumps discharge water with elevated pH into the Columbia River, with one measuring a pH of 7 and the other measuring a pH of 8.5. Officials said they hope to keep the level below 9 and have additional strategies in place if the level rises further. The Columbia River has a baseline pH of 7.
Stanfield said the elevated pH could pose a threat to wildlife, including fish, but it was still safe for people to swim in the water and there was no public alert at this time.
Residents are urged to avoid ditches and levees near Washington Road and Prudential Avenue due to possible contamination.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said crews removed about a dozen dead carp from a nearby levee.
The industrial accident occurred around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday during a shift change at the plant, said Cowlitz Fire Rescue Fire Chief Scott Goldstein. The implosion damaged administrative offices, break rooms and operational areas within the facility.
Seven workers have been confirmed dead and two are still missing.
Officials initially believed the tank contained about 900,000 gallons of white liquor, a highly corrosive substance used in the papermaking process, but later revised the estimate to about 600,000 gallons. Authorities also reduced the estimate of the amount remaining in the tank from 90,000 gallons to about 25,000 gallons.
Records show that Washington state regulators have taken 18 formal enforcement actions against the paper mill over the past decade. The company committed multiple violations by emitting gas levels into the air that exceeded legal limits.
Nippon Dynawave had to pay $43,700 in fines for those violations, records show.
