LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Officials believe Ohio River water that would have contained remnants of chemicals spilled from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio will flow by Louisville sometime on Monday.
Despite this, and the reservations of some Louisville residents, Metro officials insist the city's drinking water is completely safe.
Louisville Water said scientists have checked numerous water samples from the Ohio River and continue to find "no detections of butyl acrylate," one of the chemicals that was spilled by the train derailment.
Scientists working upriver from Louisville see similar data, they added.
"We do daily sampling on the Ohio River as part of more than 200 tests on the community's drinking water," Louisville Water said Monday. "When there's a large incident on the river, our enhanced monitoring continues for days."
The agency said that's why it is doing more frequent monitoring, analysis and strategy to ensure the city's drinking water is safe.
"Our sampling confirms there is no water quality concern," Louisville Water said.
A spokesperson for Louisville Water shared the tables above displaying the water company's sampling data for butyl acrylate from Saturday Feb. 11 through Sunday Feb. 19.
Each day, there was no detection of the chemical.
"Public health is paramount at Louisville Water," officials said. "You can trust our team is doing everything possible to ensure Louisville Pure Tap is safe to drink."
Dr. Erin Haynes, an environmental health scientist at University of Kentucky, said the chemicals in the Ohio River have already started breaking apart.
"No, I don't think local residents should be concerned at this point. But if they feel better drinking bottled water, then they should do so. But would I encourage that? No," Haynes said.
Both Louisville Water and Haynes said by the time the spill gets to Louisville there will be no risk of chemical contamination.
"The concentration is becoming smaller and smaller. It's dissipating out, so I do not think there is a concern," Haynes said.
The Cincinnati Water Company announced last Friday it would temporarily close its water intake systems out of an abundance of caution, even though there is no detectable level of the chemical in the Ohio River near Cincinnati.
Shortly after Cincinnati Water said this, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the chemical plume in the Ohio River has completely dissipated.
Louisville Water announced last Friday it would not be shutting down the water intake for the Metro.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.