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Chemical leak sends worker to hospital
Personnel from Frisco Fire Department's hazardous materials unit take chlorine readings from the air surrounding a well-water treatment facility on Tuesday night in The Colony./Blaine Crimmins, staff photo
By BLAINE CRIMMINS, bcrimmins@acnpapers.com
THE COLONY -- An electrical malfunction resulted in a chlorine leak Tuesday night at The Colony's well-water treatment facility on Main and Chowning streets. A city employee responding to the chlorine alarm was later taken to the hospital for exposure to the chemicals.
At about 8:45 p.m., units from The Colony Fire Department arrived at the facility and found noticeable traces of chlorine still in the air. As a precaution, Frisco Fire Department's hazardous materials unit was called out to take some readings. At that point, The Colony Fire Chief Scott Thompson said they were not 100-percent sure the leak had been fully contained.
Frisco's hazmat units arrived, investigated the structure, and determined that the leak had been stopped.
"More than it being a leak, we had an electronic failure on some equipment and it didn't shut down the chlorine feed, so it kept feeding gas" in the absence of water, Maurina said. The system "injects [the chlorine] into the water where it becomes soluble. It backed up and caused an alarm."
Maurina said it was a small leak and that the city employee who shut off the cylinder wasn't seriously injured. He added that the leak was not a threat to public safety and that use of chlorine was a standard part of the water disinfection process. The well-water from this facility, which has been shut down until Wednesday to investigate the source of the problem, is a back-up supply of water to the city's primary sources.
Though still not sure exactly what caused the malfunction, Maurina said a newly installed gauge may have been faulty, resulting in the chlorine cylinder failing to shut off properly.
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