Chemical smell to linger after West Virginia water is safe to drink [View all]

[jakeXT]

The water ban that left 300,000 people in West Virginia unable to drink tap water, shower or wash their clothes was lifted in some places on Monday as the aftermath of a chemical spill stretched into its fifth day.

But as hospitals began to get their water systems online and officials disbursed instructions to homeowners on how to clean out the chemical that contaminated their tap water -- and in some cases, their clothes and their dishes -- at least one reminder of the disaster was expected to linger a while longer.

The signature black-licorice smell of the obscure coal-cleaning chemical was expected to stay in West Virginians' tap water even after it is deemed safe to drink, officials said Monday.

"Don’t flush to try to get rid of all the odor," Jeff McIntyre, president of the West Virginia American Water utility, told reporters at a news conference, alluding to the "flushing" protocol that officials designed to make homeowners' water usable again.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-west-virginia-chemical-20140113,0,7906874.story