Delaware Riverkeeper Looks for Answers After Major Chemical Spill in Bristol

An environmental official in Bucks County is working to find out how a large amount of chemicals made its way into the Delaware River. Ross DiMattei wrote about the spill for CBS Philadelphia.

Maya Van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, is looking for answers after 8,000 gallons of latex finishing solution spilled into Otter Creek, a body of water in Bristol that connects to the Delaware River, about two weeks ago. 

Not soon afterwards, Mayor Jim Kenney and health officials from Philadelphia said that the city’s water was safe for consumption after multiple tests using samples of tap water.

Still, Van Rossum wants to know how the chemicals made their way into the river in the first place.

“They were giving such conflicting information to the community that it really, at moments, was creating panic because people didn’t know if they were drinking contaminated water,” she said.

Trinseo, the Bucks County company that made the chemicals, blamed the leak on “equipment failure”, but did not go into detail as to how the whole ordeal came about.

Learn more about the spill at CBS Philadelphia.

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