Two Project Documents Being Released by the WV TAP Project Team

PROJECT CONTACTS:
Dr. Andrew Whelton, Assistant Professor
University of South Alabama
Mobile, AL
T: (251) 460-6174
Email: ajwhelton@southalabama.edu  

Jeffrey Rosen, President
Corona Environmental Consulting
Scituate, MA
T: (781) 544-3255
Email: jrosen@coronaenv.com  

On Monday March 17, the WV TAP project team will release two new documents
online. These documents include a health effects literature review as well as a drinking
water odor threshold testing report based on expert odor analysis panels. Both
documents can be downloaded under the “Test Results” tab at
http://www.wvtapprogram.com beginning the afternoon of Monday March 17, 2014.

Dr. McGuire and Dr. Adams, authors of these two reports, will be available to answer
questions Tuesday March 18 at 12:00 PM EDT. A conference call-in telephone number
will be setup for those organizations interested in participating. Questions about this
March 18 event should be directed to Dr. Andrew Whelton at
ajwhelton@southalabama.edu by Tuesday 10:00 AM EDT. Information will be sent to
those organizations interested in participating.

A summary of major findings for each document are listed below.

Health Effects Literature Review
The title of the literature review is Health Effects for Chemicals in 2014 West Virginia
Chemical Release: Crude MCHM Compounds, PPH and DiPPH.

The purpose of this literature review is to present a summary of toxicity information on
the chemicals that were spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia in January 2014 from
the Freedom Industries facility. This document will be considered by the WV TAP Expert
Toxicology Panel.

The literature review was prepared by Professor Craig Adams of Utah State University.
Assistance was provided by Dr. Andrew Whelton of the University of South Alabama,
and Jeffrey Rosen, President of Corona Environmental Consulting.

The document describes health effects data for individual constituents and mixtures
based on (1) Eastman toxicology studies, (2) TOXNET sources, (3) EPA ACToR, (4)
Freedom Industries “PPH Stripped MSDS, (5) Dow Chemical MSDS, and (6) other
sources.” The literature review presents the CDC calculations for drinking water
advisory levels for MCHM and PPH of 1 mg/L (ppm) and 1.2 mg/L (ppm), respectively.

Odor Study Technical Memorandum

The title of the odor threshold testing result document is Technical Memorandum:
Expert Panel Estimates of the Odor Threshold Concentration, Odor Recognition
Concentration and Odor Objection Concentration for Crude
methylcyclohexanemethanol in Water.

The purpose of this document is to present a summary of drinking water related odor
findings to date, as several support activities remain in progress. Dr. Michael J. McGuire
prepared the document and developed a methodology based on ASTM Method E679 to
estimate the Odor Threshold Concentration (OTC), Odor Recognition Concentration
(ORC) and Odor Objection Concentration (OOC) for Crude MCHM in water during a
single expert odor panel session.

The odor threshold values reported are as follows:
     Odor Threshold Concentration: 0.15 ppb
          [The actual OTC for the experts is likely less than 0.15 ppb]
     Odor Recognition Concentration: 2.2 ppb
          [15 times greater than OTC]
     Odor Objection Concentration based on degree of liking: 4.0 ppb
          [27 times greater than OTC]
     Odor Objection Concentration (OOC) based on complaint: 4.0 ppb 
          [27 times greater than OTC]

A major finding from this study is that the estimated OTC for the Expert Panel is in the
realm of parts per trillion (ppt), a very low concentration. The ability of the expert human
nose to detect this compound is far greater than any analytical method available today.

The estimated thresholds determined in the Expert Panel study support consumer
observations in Charleston, West Virginia that people recognized and objected to the
licorice odor caused by Crude MCHM in their drinking water even though the analytical
reports were showing non-detect at a minimum reporting level of 10 ppb.