Potential Drinking Water Chemical Supply Disruption
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reporting that a fire occurred at a chemical plant operated by Carus LLC in LaSalle, Illinois on Jan. 11, 2023. The chemical plant reportedly manufactures water treatment and pollution control chemicals, including permanganates and possibly phosphates, polymers, and catalysts.
Water systems are recommended to contact their chemical suppliers to see if the chemical plant fire event will affect their drinking water chemical supplies. Additional information regarding the chemical plant fire can be found on the EPA’s webpage about the fire.
The EPA has a Water Treatment Chemical Suppliers and Manufacturers Locator Tool which allows water and wastewater utilities to search for suppliers and manufacturers across the U.S. that may be able to fulfill their chemical supply needs and increase resilience to supply chain disruptions.
This tool can be useful to water and wastewater utilities in finding alternative chemical suppliers in the case of supply chain shortages. The tool can be accessed on the EPA’s website.