On October 24, 2022, environmental health staff from the Fayette County and Kanawha County health departments delivered and mailed letters to Paint Creek residents whose wells had been tested after a chemical spill.
The spill happened on August 24, 2022, when a tractor-trailer crashed on I-64, the West Virginia Turnpike. It was carrying a surfactant called Empigen AS/F90, which spilled into Skitter Creek, a stream that flows into Paint Creek. Empigen AS/F90 is a cleaning agent also used in products such as dish soap and shampoo.
Staff sampled 19 hand-dug and shallow wells. The chemical was not found above the test’s detection limit of 0.3 percent. The health departments said this result did not mean the wells were safe. It only meant the spilled chemical was not detected above that level.
Properly built private wells were not affected by the spill. The health departments advised against drinking water from hand-dug or shallow wells, and the county health officer called them unsafe sources of drinking water.