Month: March 2014

Filming the WV TAP Press Conference

I attended and filmed the entire West Virginia Testing and Assessment Project public meeting held today at West Virginia State University. This video is just me giving a quick summary during the lunch break about the engineering team’s findings and future plans.

I’ll be posting more video in the coming days. I also be filming the press conference they’re holding this Tuesday to present their findings as interpreted by a health panel.

One key piece of information from the meeting that I want to highlight that I learned after I filmed this short video is that West Virginia American Water is still pumping 4-MCHM out to their customers because they have not changed their filters. Dr. Whelton and the rest of the WV TAP made it very clear that they told WVAW they needed to change their filters because they were the source of chemicals still being distributed into the water system. The 4-MCHM was not originating from their intake or anywhere upstream, but their effluent (or output). So that means the source lies within the water plant.

As always, thanks for watching and stay tuned for more footage of the meeting, press conference, and interviews!

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West Virginia Water Two Months Later

Watch two of the brilliant co-founders of Create West Virginia, Sarah Halstead and Rebecca Kimmons, explain three key points about the water crisis: 1) why we haven’t been protecting our water, 2) why there isn’t more outcry over the water crisis, 3) and how we can make WV a great place to live by making our water the best in the world. That last point is especially important to help us think about how we can turn a terrible situation like the Water Crisis into a turning point for our state.

I filmed this two weeks ago, exactly two months after the Water Crisis began. Sadly, most believe the crisis is over and in the immediate, most surface ways, it is over in that many people are using the water again. However, that does not mean the water is safe. In fact, the West Virginia Testing and Assessment Project (WV TAP) led by Dr. Andrew Whelton has only released preliminary findings and will be conducting more testing in homes. I will be attending and filming their press conference in West Virginia this Friday and will update this blog afterwards.

In the meantime, we all need to keep the pressure on state and federal officials and representatives. This isn’t over and we must be vigilant to prevent another similar crisis and to remediate the damage from the crisis.

I would also like to thank everyone reading this blog for doing so. It has been a true labor of love and I’m just glad to be able to contribute something in response to the crisis.