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First Posted: 1/13/2014 CHARLESTON, W.Va. &#8212; Safe tap water gushed from faucets and shower heads in West Virginia on Monday, a welcome sight and sound for a small fraction of the 300,000 people who have not been able to use running water since a chemical spill five days ago.
It could still be days before everyone in the Charleston metropolitan area is cleared to use the water, though officials said the water in certain designated areas was safe to drink and wash with as long as people flushed out their systems. They cautioned that the water may still have a slight licorice-type odor to it, raising the anxieties of some who believed it was still contaminated.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to drink it. I&#8217;ll shower in it and do dishes in it. But I won&#8217;t drink it. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s (the chemical) all out,&#8221; said Angela Stone, who started the 30-minute or so process of flushing her system out soon after the ban was lifted.
Officials were grateful to give the green light Monday to about 6,000 to 10,000 customers. Gov. Earl Tomblin made the announcement at a news conference.
Meanwhile, it was learned that the facility whose chemical spill contaminated the water supply was barely scrutinized, flying largely under the radar of government regulators who viewed it as a low-risk operation &#8212; but in reality, a problem at a key holding wall went undetected and unreported at Freedom Industries Inc.
The chemicals stored at Freedom&#8217;s facility near the Elk River are not considered hazardous enough by regulators to prompt routine inspections. As a result, the chemical storage terminal was a low priority for regulators, who must pick and choose how to allocated scarce manpower when enforcing environmental laws.
The water crisis started Thursday when a chemical used in coal processing leaked from a Freedom Industries plant into the nearby Elk River.
Complaints came in to West Virginia American Water about the odor and officials discovered the source was the chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol that spilled out of a 40,000 gallon tank.
In all, state officials believe about 7,500 gallons leaked from the tank. Some of the chemical was contained before flowing into the river and it&#8217;s not clear exactly how much entered the water supply.
Federal authorities, including the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, have opened an investigation.

After spill, water ban lifted for part of W.Va.