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ThankMrBernke t1_jdtnsrf wrote

Reply to comment by saquonbrady in Advisory for Philadelphia tap water issued out of an ‘abundance of caution’ following Delaware River chemical spill by misteryham

You're fine. As of right now, the Philadelphia Water Department and the other authorities are saying the water is safe to drink, but they are monitoring the situation. So far the response from the authorities seems to be appropriate IMO.

To put in context, the spill was about 8,000 gallons (about the size of a large fuel truck) into the Delaware River, which discharges 100,000 gallons a second. However, the spill was not very far up the river from a treatment plant that serves a large portion of the city. They're monitoring the situation, as they should be in a case like this, but the guidance right now is that water is safe to drink but people should stay alert for further developments.

You're definitely fine to shower. If the situation develops and you shouldn't drink the water, your hotel will provide bottled water.

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saquonbrady t1_je0ni13 wrote

Have you heard any updates on this?

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ThankMrBernke t1_je0nudo wrote

They keep the twitter page in the link updated. PWD reports the wate is safe to drink currently

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saquonbrady t1_je0oj9e wrote

I read that but I’m worried how this may affect the future by next week

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ThankMrBernke t1_je0zn7c wrote

You will be fine. 100,000 gallons of water move through the Delaware every second. The spill was 8,000 gallons. The concern was that the spill, while small in comparison to the river, could be in high enough concentration that some water could enter a treatment plan a few miles downstream of where the spill was. I am not a hydrologist or something, but I'd bet money on the river washing any final traces of the spill away from the area near the intake valves (which they are constantly monitoring with extra diligence and testing because of the spill - and they haven't had cause for concern yet) .

Honestly the story here is how the city officials fucked things up and got everybody panicked and told them to buy bottled water, than retracted that statement 2 hours later. Ever since then, they've said consistently that the water is safe. But by then the fear had spread and people were scared the government was telling the truth or not, if they heard the new news at all. Tbh, I think somebody jumped the gun on sending out the warning.

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