The Virginia State Health Office advised employees of well respected outfits such as North Virginia’s HMS Plumbing to be extra-careful when performing jobs, such as flushing, in schools.

This advice, which extends to the employees of the schools themselves, comes in the wake of the West Virginia chemical spill, which saw many residents of the area become ill after coming in direct contact with the water. The very nature of their job makes workers of top companies such as HMS Plumbing particularly vulnerable to these symptoms, justifying their inclusion in the warning.

According to the State Health Board, the initial guide for home flushing, issued immediately after the scare had died down, did not contain enough information to ensure the safety of pupils or employees at the local schools, due to their slightly different methods for flushing, as well as the nature of the impurities potentially contained in the water. As such, a new directive was written up and issued which, while not consensually considered necessary, nevertheless provides a ‘comfortable consensus’ and a broad enough margin to hopefully prevent future accidents.

This new directive was issued after students and staff at numerous Western Virginia schools complained of symptoms typical of chemical poisoning, even after following the official rules for home flushing. This was partly due to the fact that, while urging people to air and flush their pipes, the home flushing directive made no mention of properly ventilating the flushing sites or avoiding the fumes and vapours potentially issued by the contaminated water. The present directive solves those issues, and should prove enough to allow area officials to reopen schools.

The Western Virginia chemical spill took place in January, and originated from the River Elk. The stream’s contaminated water flowed into a local water treatment facility and, from there, into the houses of roughly 300.000 people. By the time the contamination was discovered, a large number of these had fallen ill, causing widespread concern and leading to the current set of flushing directives being put into place.

About HMS Plumbing:

HMS Plumbing are based in Northern Virginia, USA, and provide plumbing services to a number of surrounding counties. Learn more at www.hmsplumbing.com

Contact Details:
10319 Piper Lane
Manassas, VA 20110
+1 703-583-8205
[email protected]