Five case of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Five cases of colon cancer.
Twelve cases of Multiple sclerosis.
Ten cases of Leukemia.
Four cases of Lupus.
Four brain tumors.
Eight cases of brain cancer.
All illnesses in one town with a little fewer than 3,000 residents?
Welcome to Paden City, a West Virginia town founded in 1903, which rests in both Wetzel and Tyler counties. Located 42 miles south of Wheeling, Paden City once was wealthy thanks to the glass industry, but the same decay that’s taken place throughout our Rust Belt valley has occurred there, too.
And many of the remaining residents are questioning elected officials about the municipality’s water service and the quality of the product the city sells. A recent notice alarmed the customer base because the level of PCE, or Tetrachloroethylene contained in that water, was listed as three times the limit established by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
They don’t drink it.
Some don’t bathe in it.
But they continue paying for it because they have been told by city officials that those with overdue water bills will have their taps shuttered, according to Tonya Shuler.
According to the EPA, “Tetrachloroethylene is used as a dry cleaning agent and metal degreasing solvent. It is also used as a starting material (building block) for making other chemicals and is used in some consumer products.”
A Likely Carcinogen in the Water
And …
“Tetrachloroethylene exposure may also cause adverse effects in the kidney, liver, immune system and hematologic system, and on development and reproduction. … EPA has classified tetrachloroethylene as likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
It’s with ease to see why the people of Paden City are concerned.
Shuler and others have engaged city officials, and the administration has gained a grant that soon will install a new water filtration system. The bad news, though, is that people are suspicious, and that has led to trust issues.
Why should people 42 miles away care?
- They, like us in the Northern Panhandle, are West Virginians.
- We all have dry cleaners in our towns, too.
- We all have fracking taking place in our backyards.
- And our communities, from Paden City to the northern tip of the Mountain State, have long been industrial along the Ohio River.
Why do you think so many Wheeling residents are anxiously awaiting the contamination report for the area selected by Wheeling’s elected for the proposed public safety building? It’s because of the industrial revolution that took place from 1890-1970 in this region, a time during which the owners of the factories, mills, mines, and plants were unkind to the environment because the science didn’t exist that determined their operations were hazardous to the employees, and to the Earth.
This is where we live. All of us. And the folks in Paden City need our help.
