By Brenna Angel
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wuky/local-wuky-952281.mp3
WHITESBURG, Ky. – Residents of an eastern Kentucky community are on their third day of a no-consumption and no-contact water advisory after a weekend diesel spill on the North Fork of the Kentucky River. This spill isn't the first to hit Letcher County.
Clary Estes is an Americorp volunteer working with the non-profit group Kentucky Headwaters Inc. She says Whitesburg restaurants and businesses were told about the oil spill Saturday afternoon, but not everyone received the alert.
"We're getting a lot of reports about people not knowing and bathing in it or using it to wash their dishes. We had a report of one guy taking a shower and feeling a burning sensation."
It wasn't immediately clear what caused the spill, but two similar cases happened in 2008 and 2009. Childers Oil ultimately paid 500-thousand dollars to settle a lawsuit with the state surrounding those spills.
Estes, who hasn't drank the tap water since moving to Lecher County last summer, says residents are frustrated.
"A lot of people just want to know what's going on. They want to know why it happened again and how long it's going to be this time."
Community officials have a public meeting on the spill scheduled for Tuesday evening.