Waste Plant Worker Averts Chlorine Disaster

Quick thinking by a wastewater treatment worker averted disaster in an Illinois city last week.

The city of Pekin experienced a public health threat after chlorine leaked from a one-ton tank at the local wastewater treatment plant.

The police closed off at least one street and evacuated the area around the plant, according to the Pekin Daily Times. The evacuation and the street closure wrapped after the city’s hazmat team, a part of the fire department, sealed the leak, the report said.

Fire Chief Kurt Nelson said he could smell the leak from a quarter-mile away. He added that there were no injuries.

A wastewater treatment plant worker noticed the chlorine leak and immediately took action. The worker shut off the main valve supplying chlorine to the tank, the report said, citing Nelson. That action slowed the leak while it was still being sealed.

“The leak began when a regulator came loose on the tank, one of four inside a ventilated building. Firefighters were called and evacuated the few workers present at the facility to its windward side and out of danger,” the report said.

A nearby business and home were both evacuated, the report said. The report pointed out the dangers of chlorine:

Chlorine, used to treat wastewater at the plant, becomes a respiratory irritant in its gaseous form "that doesn't take much to cause a real problem" and can cause death, Nelson said.

Federal guidelines on chlorine safety are available here.

Chlorine is sometimes criticized for posing safety hazards, but many water-industry professionals defend its use.

The Water Quality and Health Council, sponsored by the American Chemistry Council, points out that disinfection revolutionized drinking water treatment. The group notes that chlorine is a potent germicide, and treats taste, odor, biological growth, and chemicals.

The group pointed to the decline in the death rate “due to typhoid fever following the introduction of chlorine to U.S. municipal drinking water systems in 1908. As more cities adopted water chlorination, U.S. death rates due to cholera and hepatitis A also declined dramatically.”

“Worldwide, significant strides in public health and the quality of life are directly linked to the adoption of drinking water chlorination. Recognizing this success, Life magazine (1997) declared, ‘The filtration of drinking water plus the use of chlorine is probably the most significant public health advancement of the millennium,’” it continued.

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