East Palestine Water Quality Update

Joe Lyons • February 15, 2023

(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — The following is a status update regarding water testing results in East Palestine as of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

Municipal Water Testing Results:

New water testing results have been returned to the Ohio EPA. These results show no detection of contaminants in raw water from the five wells that feed into East Palestine’s municipal water system.

Test results from the combined, treated water from all five wells also showed no detection of contaminants associated with the derailment.

With these tests results, Ohio EPA is confident that the municipal water is safe to drink.
Additional Information on the East Palestine Municipal Water System:

East Palestine’s municipal water system, which provides drinking water for most area residents, takes in water from five wells that are located approximately one mile from the derailment site. The municipal wells are at least 56 feet below the surface and are covered by a solid steel casing that protects the water from contamination. Before drinking water is made available to the public, water from these five wells is combined at the water treatment plant and treated.

Although it was unlikely that any contaminants entered the wells that serve the municipal water supply, Ohio EPA tested the combined, treated water soon after the derailment. Those tests showed no contamination.

Out of an abundance of caution, Ohio EPA took samples of raw, untreated water directly from all five wells over the past week. A new sample of the combined, treated water was also collected.

As noted above, new testing results from the five wells, as well as the treated water sample, showed no evidence of contamination associated with the derailment.

Private Water Wells:

Because private water wells may be closer to the surface than the municipal water wells, the Ohio EPA recommends that those who receive drinking water from private water wells schedule an appointment for well water testing by an independent consultant.

For information on how to schedule your private water well for testing, call 330-849-3919. The Ohio Department of Health encourages those with private wells to use bottled water until their well water testing results are returned.

More information can be found at ema.ohio.gov/eastpalestine.