Elk River hypervigilance

The water company in Charleston WV shut down its intakes for a couple of hours yesterday when a foam was discovered on the Elk River floating toward the only intake for about 300,000 people in parts of nine counties.

As of this morning, it appears the foam is a naturally occurring substance, according to news reports.

I wanted to write something about the foam yesterday, but with no information, all it would have been was speculative chatter, and I get enough of that as it is.

What I was wanting to say was that we see foam on the Ohio River all the time. I occasionally wonder what it is, but then I go back to my usual stuff. It's one of those things that has been around for decades, and it's pretty much in the background. You don't notice it until it's right next to you.

Considering what happened in January, it looks like the people of south central West Virginia will be paying a lot of attention to the Elk River. Anything out of the ordinary will draw a lot of scrutiny until people can agree on exactly what is ordinary.