Philadelphia officials advise residents to drink bottled water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River | CNN

CNN
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The City of Philadelphia advised area residents on Sunday to drink bottled water “out of caution” after a chemical spill in the Delaware River.

“City of Phila recommends using bottled drinking water from 2PM 3/26/2023 until further notice for all Phila Water Department customers,” according to cell phone push alerts shared with CNN. “Contaminants have not been found in the system at this time but this is out of caution due to a spill in the Delaware River.”

The alert also provided a link to a community website for updates.

A ShopRite store in South Philadelphia said it was selling out of bottled water before 2 p.m. Sunday after the alerts were sent out.

When the store is able to restock shelves, it plans to limit cases of bottled water to three per customer, a store worker told CNN.

Mike Carroll, the city’s deputy managing director for transportation, infrastructure and sustainability, said in a statement on Sunday the contamination occurred Friday and involved a latex product that spilled along a Delaware River tributary in Bristol Township, Bucks County.

“As has been reported, on Friday night a chemical spill occurred in Bristol Township, Bucks County which released contaminants into the Delaware River,” Carroll said. “The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) became aware of this through the Delaware Valley Early Warning System (EWS) and has been evaluating the situation since that time to understand potential impacts to the public. Although early indications have not revealed contamination, we are still monitoring the situation and conducting testing.”

On its website, the Philadelphia Water Department said it provides water to more than “2 million people in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, and Bucks counties.”

This is a developing story.