No contamination found after July 5 derailment in Tallahatchie County, MSDH says

JACKSON, Miss. (VDN) — The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) has confirmed that no benzene contamination was detected in the public water supply of the Village of Glendora following a July 5 train derailment involving hazardous materials.

The MSDH Bureau of Public Water Supply collected water samples from the Glendora system in Tallahatchie County on July 8 to assess any potential impacts from the Canadian National (CN) Railway derailment and chemical spill. CN personnel collected samples from the same locations at the same time.

The state samples were analyzed by the Mississippi Public Health Laboratory, while CN’s samples were tested by a certified third-party lab. Both sets of results found no presence of benzene in Glendora’s public water.

As a precaution, MSDH announced it will temporarily increase benzene monitoring in Glendora’s water system from once every six years to annually. If no benzene is detected for three consecutive years, the monitoring schedule will return to the standard regulatory frequency.

MSDH officials say they will continue working with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), and CN officials until the response to the incident is complete.