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Guest column: Emergency management director responds to question about drinking water safety

Posted at 6:43 pm February 7, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Guest Columns Leave a Comment

Note: Anderson County Emergency Management Director Steve Payne recently responded to a citizens’ question about safety measures the county has in place to protect drinking water in the event of a hazardous situation like that which recently occurred in West Virginia. Here’s Payne’s response, which was forwarded by the County Mayor’s Office, which had initially received the question.

Dear Mayor Frank,

Please forward to the citizen who asked:

What safety measures does Anderson County have in place to protect citizens’ drinking water in the event of a hazardous situation like that which occurred recently in West Virginia?

Anderson County is home to some 50 facilities that manufacture, process, store, or utilize quantities of hazardous radiological or chemical materials. The majority of these facilities are located in industrial parks in the county and cities of Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Lake City.

Facilities with quantities of hazardous materials that meet or exceed threshold levels established by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are required by federal law to file each year a Tier 2 Report stating the material(s) and quantity on site. In addition to the name and quantity of each material, the report includes Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), a site map showing location of material, type of storage container, type of storage conditions, and description of dikes, holding basins, and other safeguard measures. Tier 2 reports received in 2013 from private, non-DOE facilities identify 42 separate hazardous materials. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns Tagged With: Anderson County Basic Emergency Operations Plan, Anderson County EMA, Anderson County Emergency Management, Anderson County Emergency Management Agency, Anderson County Local Emergency Planning Committee, Anderson County Water Authority, Bacon Springs, BEOP, chemical materials, Clinch River, Clinton, Clinton Utilities Board, DOE, drinking water, drinking water safety, EMA, Hallsdale-Powell Utility District, hazardous, hazardous materials, Lake City, LEPC, Lin Chilcoat, Lower Clear Creek, Material Safety Data Sheet, MSDS, Norris, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs Water Department, OSHA, radiological materials, safety, SERC, State Emergency Response Commission, Steve Payne, Terry Frank, Tier 2 report, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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