Wellness and Water conference scheduled for Oct. 3-4 in Charleston, near site of chemical spill

The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition is hosting its third Annual Wellness and Water conference from Oct. 3-4 in Charleston, W.Va., in the area where a January chemical spill dumped thousands of gallons of a coal cleaner into a major regional water.

It has since been revealed that West Virginia American Water Co. delayed for eight years plans to review the Elk River watershed for potential contamination sources upstream from their Kanawha Valley water treatment plant. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry also said the state Department of Health and Human Resources lacks a program and properly trained staff to assess such community-wide chemical exposures.

The conference's featured speakers will be Dr. Rahul Gupta, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, who criticized the slow progress of collecting new scientific data after the spill, and 2014 North American Goldman Prize Winner Helen Slotjee.

The conference will examine in-depth the water and health effects of fossil fuel extraction and processing and waste disposal and will include panels and roundtable discussions. It will also allow participants to learn from residents impacted by water issues. For more information click here.