A chemical spill at a Birmingham (Alabama) Water Works water treatment facility recently hospitalized 55 people.
According to the company, the accidental mixing of hypochlorite and ferric sulfate created hazardous chlorine gas.
An accidental mix of sodium hypochlorite (which is essentially bleach) and ferric sulfate caused a chlorine off gas at our Shades Mountain Filter Plant. We use these components to treat water as our normal practice, however they are not meant to be mixed together.
— BirminghamWaterWorks (@BhamWaterWorks) February 27, 2019
Company officials originally stated that 14 contractors and a single company employee had been hospitalized after the spill, but the number of those who were in close enough contact with the chlorine gas to justify precautionary hospitalization grew by more than 40 people as time went on. “None have sustained any life-threatening injuries,” Birmingham Water Works reported in a news release.
Meanwhile, police advised those living near the Shades Mountain Filter Plant to take shelter while a highway near the plant was closed to traffic.
The reported spill is Sodium Hypochlorite & Ferric Sulfate which are used to treat water.
If you live in the immediate area of the Birmingham Water Works you should take precaution and shelter in place.
US Hwy 280 is still closed in both directions
— Mountain Brook PD (@mountainbrookpd) February 27, 2019
Chlorine gas exposure can cause nose and throat irritation, nausea, vomiting and headache. It can also cause skin and eye irritation or chemical burns.
Birmingham Water Works reported to the public in a statement that the water supply was not contaminated and that the chemicals were contained within the building where the mixing happened.
