Thread by @TheWheltonGroup

Amazing day in the field!

Did the 7 hour drive and put 7 hours of field work in, day 1.

Our 6th research visit to #EastPalestine #Ohio area has begun.

🧵

1/n

Sulfur Run, where the chemicals first entered waterways from The Norfolk Southern #disaster is practically free of water in some places.

Some places are flowing others seemingly with stagnant pools.

Sheen still exudes from the Sulfur Run creek banks in places where we visited.

We did see free floating sheen (not from us disturbing) after the confluence of Sulfur Run and Leslie Run.

We saw Water Boatman insects moving through the sheen in some places. And maybe some spider looking bugs too?

We did see bugs in Sulfur Run where water was flowing.

Sorbent booms sit on the (basically) dry Sulfur Run creek bed.

It looks like the hay bale left in Sulfur Run culvert we’ve seen before is now gone.

A lot of greenery has grown along Sulfur Run

In downtown #EastPalestine, they too celebrate #Caturday.

A sign shares heartfelt messages to first responders who helped community.

In #EastPalestine Park, a lot of greenery has come in!

The water levels (with ~21 days of barely any rain) have prompted lower flows in Leslie Run (left) and Sulfur Run (right)

Near that location we see air testing canisters just hanging out on a telephone pole.

We did see (as mentioned before) freely floating sheen in Leslie Run in #EastPalestine park.

Nothing like the amount we’ve seen previously.

Along Leslie Run, south of #EastPalestine, we saw a lot of fish, frogs, and insects.

And we did see sheen when creek banks were physically disturbed in Leslie Run.

Norfolk Southern plans to start cleaning Leslie Run next week.

I wonder what that will do to the living things there? (This should have been done already IMO)

There’s more.

Tomorrow’s another day.

Goodnight.

😴💤💤💤💤😴💤💤💤💤😴

So excited Day 2!

Rendezvous with research teams (faculty and students) from @univtennessee @interpuertorico and community resident to sample private drinking water wells.

Help from Tennessee and Puerto Rico.

.@univtennessee Professor Frank Loeffler taking a sediment sample.

(He didn’t fall in.)

HEPACO pressure washing East Taggart, right near the #derailment site and Sulfur Run.

Culverts atEast Taggart Run empty Sulfur Run

Found the Norfolk Southern Family Assistance center.

Been here 6 times and never seen this before. Not certain how I missed it.

Flowers are blooming!

Some homeowners bought in-house water treatment systems for their well water.

Concerns about well water safety remain. No wells have been found to have disaster related contamination so far.

Sulfur Run (culvert) sometimes flows at 5-7 ft deep through town (not today).

Chemicals and contaminated water flowed directly underneath multiple buildings.

Sulfur Run also goes under several buildings upstream.

Some parts of it are practically dry even in parts of town.

But now the sound of rainfall….in #EastPalestine #Ohio.

We saw two #deer near the #derailment site, in the parking lot of ER Advanced Ceramics, Inc.

And then we encountered a Norfolk Southern train.

132 rail cars going West to East through the center of #EastPalestine

2 engines, the 2nd engine after 100 rail cars.

It took 5 min and 30 sec to pass.

(Only 38 sec video shown)

Day 3, out in the field, we crossed paths with our colleagues and friends from #Tennessee and #Puerto Rico sampling wells.

We also made a friend today near Leslie Run while measuring water depths.

A hoppy Leopard frog.

With the rain since yesterday… and continuing rain, Sulfur Run is no longer dry.

Leslie Run is flowing a lot more because of the rain.

We saw a variety of signs advertising for pressure washing since our February visit.

We saw some building pressure washing taking place.

We saw street pressure washing too.

(We do not endorse this company, just showing what we saw)

And we’re back at Purdue!

Results (when available) of our scientific support efforts will be described here as well as posted at our disaster response webpage

👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

engineering.purdue.edu/PlumbingSafety…

1 last followup:

4.5 months after the disaster indoor air is still contaminated in some places. So exposures have continued for 4.5 months.

1.5 months ago we visited and found this too.

We asked USEPA to do something about it. They haven’t yet.

engineering.purdue.edu/PlumbingSafety…

It’s unclear why we have to be the ones advocating for protecting public safety?

Decon the buildings, conduct air testing and then monitor. It’s not hard.

Why draw this out? Why knowingly allow exposures, which directly undercuts the message that recovery is happening?

As we have found in other disasters, but more so here, #disaster response decision making, when it comes to public safety and scientific support, needs a complete overhaul.

Today, it can allow for harmful exposures and threaten public safety and business survival.