Safety Report: Latex Spill in Delaware river impact Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant customers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Update March 28, 2023

The Philadelphia Water Department gives the following guidance:
- They remain confident tap water from the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant remains safe to drink and use at least through 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
- Contaminants related to the Bristol Township discharge have never been found in PWD’s water system at any point.
- Customers can fill bottles or pitchers with tap water with no risk.
- The water that is currently available to customers has been treated and tested to confirm that it is safe to drink and use for bathing, cooking, and washing.
- They expect that there will continue to be no detectable levels of the spill at Philadelphia’s Delaware River intake by Wednesday or Thursday this week.
- They anticipate that this event will be resolved by next week.

Source: PWD

March 26, 2023

On March 24, 2023, more than 8000 gallons of a latex finishing solution spilled into a Delaware River tributary in Bristol Township, Bucks County, which released contaminants into the Delaware River. The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) became aware of this through the Delaware Valley Early Warning System (EWS) and has been evaluating the situation since that time to understand potential impacts to the public.

This spill could potentially affect the water treated at the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant. Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant does not service all of Philadelphia. The City’s other two treatment plants draw water from the Schuylkill River which was not impacted by the spill. The areas that could potentially be impacted by the spill are shown in this interactive map: experience.arcgis.com/experience/2c870b2f75684e57a0efde493444f7db

As of March 26, 3:30 p.m based on updated hydraulic modeling and the latest sampling results and data, the Philadelphia Water Department is now confident tap water from the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant will remain safe to drink and use at least through 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 27, 2023. This updated time is based on the time it will take river water that entered the Baxter intakes early Sunday morning to move through treatment and water mains before reaching customers.

The Philadelphia Water Department informed the following:
- There is no need to buy water at this time. Customers can fill bottles or pitchers with tap water with no risk at this time.
- The water that is currently available to customers was treated before the spill reached Philadelphia and remains safe to drink and use for bathing, cooking, and washing.
- The earlier advisory that customers receiving water from the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant may choose to drink bottled water on March 26 was issued out of an abundance of caution.
- Testing has not shown the presence of water impacted by the spill in the Baxter system at this time.

The Philadelphia Water Department continues tracking the spill so Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant staff can have confidence when the Delaware River intake is no longer impacted.

Source: www.phila.gov/2023-03-26-citys-response-to-spill-of-a-latex-product-into-the-delaware-river/