Faulty equipment to be examined following water plant chemical release
HAMILTON — The equipment that apparently caused a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak at the town's water treatment plant on Tuesday has been ordered shut down, fire Chief Phil Stevens said yesterday.
At one point on Tuesday, the air in the chemical room contained more than 4.1 percent hydrogen, Stevens said, the level at which it becomes flammable. Hazardous material response teams from as far away as North Andover were at the plant on Pine Tree Drive.
Stevens stressed that at no time were any of the chemicals in the room in danger of coming in contact with the public drinking water supply.
The equipment that was shut down is used to process sodium hypochlorite from salt water. Non-chemists know the compound as bleach, and it is commonly added to drinking water as a disinfectant. Workers will manually add the chemical to the water until the equipment is given a clean bill of health, Stevens said.
No residents were evacuated from the neighborhood, because the hydrogen release was contained within the chemical room at the plant. There were no injuries.
Gas and electricity to the plant were both cut off as a precaution, but were restored by 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"If nothing else, it was good training," Stevens said, "and nobody got hurt."
