Philadelphians wait to hear if their water was contaminated by a nearby chemical spill

Philadelphians remain in limbo after city officials said over the weekend that a nearby chemical spill may have contaminated the water supply — but they don’t yet know for sure.

On Sunday morning, the city told residents they might want to drink and cook with bottled water because officials couldn’t be certain that 8,100 gallons of a latex finishing solution that spilled into a Delaware River tributary late Friday hadn’t wended its way into the city’s water supply, even though testing didn’t show any contamination.

City officials would later correct this, assuring residents that the tap water was safe to drink Sunday afternoon and Monday — but not before the warning set off a minor panic and prompted droves of people to flood nearby grocery stores and bodegas, clearing the shelves of bottled water.

Still, the city isn’t in the clear. Officials say water sampling results and updated hydraulic modeling confirm that tap water is currently safe to drink — but only until 11:59 p.m. Monday night.

That was how long officials estimated it would take for river water that entered the city’s Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant early Monday morning to move through treatment facilities and water mains before coming out of customers’ taps. Officials said they had to open the intakes to keep a minimum level of water in the system to prevent damage to equipment and keep water available for firefighting.

“We know residents are concerned, and we continue to respond to this situation as updated information comes in,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Sunday night. “I want to assure everyone: no contaminants have been found in our tap water system. At this time, Philly’s tap water remains safe to drink.”

A pipe rupture at a manufacturing plant in Bristol, just north of the city, caused the spill of chemicals including butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate, according to WHYY. Butyl acrylate, a clear liquid used to make paint and adhesives, was also among the hazardous materials released during the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.

According to a map released by Philadelphia, more than half the city of 1.5 million people appeared to be potentially impacted, including all of South Philadelphia, Center City, North Philadelphia and Northeast Philadelphia.

The city’s two other water treatment plants take water from the Schuylkill River and weren’t affected by the chemical spill.

Michael Carrol, the deputy managing director of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability, said Sunday that it was safe to bathe and wash dishes using tap water and that there were no acute health effects associated with exposure to low levels of the released chemicals.

On the other side of the Delaware River, the utility New Jersey American Water said the chemical spill hadn’t impacted the drinking water dispensed to three New Jersey counties by its treatment plant for the river.

Some Philadelphians criticized the mixed messaging from public officials on Sunday, while others found humor in the situation, poking fun at how some Philly natives pronounce the word water — wooder.

“Has anyone called it Woodergate yet?” one twitter user quipped. Another wondered: “Is this water’s revenge for how we pronounce it?”

The potential for contamination is dropping as time passes and tests continue to come up clean, officials said in a press briefing Sunday, and they added that it’s best practice for households to maintain two days of water on hand for emergency situations such as this.

The city told residents Monday that it was safe to fill bottles and other containers with tap water but that there was no need to buy bottled water.