COLUMBUS, Ohio—The city of Cincinnati announced Friday it will stop taking in water from the Ohio River for now as chemicals from the East Palestine train derailment head downstream.
In a release, Cincinnati city officials said that more than 130 water samples taken at the city’s Ohio River water intake found “no detectable levels” of the chemicals from the derailment site.
However, the release stated that “out of an abundance of caution,” the city’s water system will shut off its Ohio River intake and temporarily switch to using water reserves.
“I’m confident that temporarily shutting off the Ohio River intake is the best move,” said Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long.
“There is no reason to be concerned about water from the Ohio River now,” DeWine said.
State officials previously said that drinking water treatment processes should remove any contaminants from the Ohio River.
Some of those chemicals got into local streams, killing fish and traveling down into the Ohio River. »