Update 5/20/16 11:39 AM

Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department officials say the Do Not Drink Water advisory could be in place as long as four weeks or more for the residents of Vienna and Boaz.

They say this is how long it may take to get carbon filters for the water system.

The health department says bottled water should be available throughout the duration of this advisory. They're searching for volunteers to man the sites and ways to fund this project.

If you are disable and need water delivered to you, call 304-295-4543 or 304-295-4541.

Update 5/20/2016 10:20 am

The City of Vienna calls an emergency council meeting for 2 pm Friday to discuss an emergency water plan.

Update 5/202/106 9:15 am

Mayor Randy Rapp says water distribution sites will be open Friday beginning at 9 AM for any Vienna residents wanting to get water.

Residents need to bring their own containers to fill with water.

The locations are the Grand Central Mall, the Utility Board Building on 60th Street and the old Johns Manville facility on River Road.

People can come get water from 8 AM until 8 PM every day at all three locations.

Update: 5/19/206 11:25

Thursday evening, health officials visited hotels and restaurants in Vienna and Boaz to advise those businesses what they need to be doing to keep you safe.

While the water is not safe, in those two cities, to drink, it's okay to use to bath and wash dishes.

Here's a list of other things that the Mid- Ohio Valley Health Department says that the restaurants and hotels, as well as you, are advised *not* to do.

Water should not be used for:

Food preparation

Ice machines

Drink machines - coffee and tea makers

Fruit and vegetables misters in stores

Washing fruits and vegetables

Water fountains.

Hotels are also being asked to provide bottled water to people to use to brush their teeth.

The MOV Health Department does say the water is safe for restaurants to use to wash dishes and equipment in three bowl sinks, in dishwashers and for hand washing.

Update: 5/19/2016 11:12

Thursday WTAP reported the new C-8 guidelines, which caused some people to start stocking up, and stores running dry of filtered water.

Foodland in Vienna had a packed parking lot Thursday day afternoon,

cases and jugs of filtered water were flying off of the shelves.

Assistant manager of the Vienna Foodland, Adam Lewis spoke about crowds.

“Apparently there was a report that C-8 was in the water, and any, from about three o clock to six o clock we’ve sold about 530 24 packs of water, and about a hundred, three-hundred and some gallons of water. It’s been crazy.”

Staff tried to keep up with the demand, but when i got to foodland around 7 o clock last night they already had the last of their stock out on display by the door, when we reached out at eight thirty p.m. they were completely sold out.

Shoppers were rushing in to buy what they could before everyone runs out of stock.

Kellyn Leverett of Vienna said, “The state of West Virginia has declared that Vienna cannot drink their water, so I decided to buy a couple of cases.”

Leverett says her daughter’s health is her main concern.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to my daughter, and I don’t want her to accidentally drink it, drink any of it at all.”

Friday morning at the former Johns Manville parking lot, drinkable water will be distributed, but officials ask that people please remember to bring a container.

Update 5/19/2016 7:50 pm

Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp says water will not be distributed to the public at the former Johns Manville parking lot until sometime Friday.

UPDATE: 5/19/2016 7:00PM

Wood County Schools located in Vienna will be closed Friday May 20th.

This includes Neale Elementary, Vienna Elementary, Greenmont Elementary, and Jackson Middle School.

Schools will reopen Monday May 23rd.

Residents with water concerns can call the Vienna/Boaz Water Issue Information line at 1-888-550-6797.

Chemours issued this statement Thursday: "We’re aware that the US EPA has established a health advisory for PFOA in drinking water, and we are reviewing with interest, the related data published by the Agency on its website. The new health advisory has been expected, following completion of the Agency’s risk assessment for PFOA in 2014. We believe the Agency set the health advisory at 70 parts per trillion with the goal of being extremely protective. Chemours has been proactive in preparing to quickly to implement measures including drinking water treatment and/or monitoring where appropriate to meet this newly announced health advisory. Granular Activated Carbon water treatment systems have been in place in six water districts and multiple private wells near our Washington Works site, and they continue to successfully lower PFOA in drinking water to below regulatory levels."

Update 5/19/2016 6:15 pm

The Mid Ohio Valley Health Department says there is a Do Not Drink Water Advisory for City of Vienna and Boaz.

The following press release was issued at 6:15 p.m.:

For Immediate Release

Do Not Drink Advisory

May 19, 2016 – Parkersburg, WV: A Do Not Drink the Water Health Advisory has been issued by the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department for the citizens of Vienna and Boaz until further notice.

Earlier today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established a new limit for allowable PFOA/PFOS (better known as C-8) chemicals in public water supply. It is important to note that the Vienna/Boaz water supply is still and approved water supply by the State Bureau for Public Health. This precaution is being taken while further tests and evaluations are being conducted on the water supply.

It is also important for citizens to know that Governor Tomlin, Homeland Security Chief, Jimmy Gianato, Cabinet Secretary Boling and Commissioner and State Health Officer Dr. Gupta are working with the City of Vienna and the EPA to resolve the issue.

Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department Sanitarians are visiting all restaurants in the area to ensure that food is prepared with alternate water sources, but bathrooms and hand washing are okay with the current water supply.

The National Guard and Homeland Security are working with Rick Woodyard, Emergency Management Director in our area to ensure an alternate source of water is brought into our area. In addition, local department and grocery stores will be receiving additional supplies of bottled water for public consumption.

The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department has established a Vienna/Boaz Water Issue Information toll free number that people can call for answers to their questions. That number is 1-888-550-6797.

Update 5/19/2016 5:40 pm

U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito issue a statement on Thursday's announcement from the EPA regarding C8 guidelines:

“We’re very concerned for the residents of Martinsburg, Parkersburg and Vienna in light of the new drinking water advisory issued by the EPA. Our first and number one priority is to ensure these residents have safe and clean drinking water. We have been in contact with the EPA, state and local officials, and the National Guard, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

UPDATE 5/19/16 3:43 PM

New guidelines are saying water should not have more than .07 parts per billion. This calls for some major changes to our local water.

And the source? Many point to DuPont. WTAP has been following for months. The levels of C8 in Vienna's water may now be too dangerous to drink.

The latest release from the city says their levels are just above one part per billion.

This is significantly higher than the new federal standard of 07.

Updated: 4/07/2016 4:00 P.M.

Little change in the latest results of C8 testing in Vienna's water system and that change is a decline.

In the words of Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp, the latest round of sampling taken last week of eight city water wells finds levels "relatively flat" from the previous tests in February.

While six of those wells still showed levels above one part per billion, the numbers declined slightly from previous tests.

That means, at least for the time being, Vienna plans to slow down the frequency of sampling of its water system.

"It's so expensive to have it done every month, and we're getting very little comparable data," Mayor Rapp said at a news briefing Thursday. "Starting with this quarter, we're going to sample every three months instead of every month, to look for any changes in our data."

The EPA's standard for C8 concentration is .4 parts per billion-although environmental activists would like to see that lowered to .05.

Mayor Rapp said the EPA has not made any decision on changing its standard.

The most recent numbers for the city of Parkersburg-from sampling done last September-show levels below point-one part per billion.

UPDATE 2/29/2016 1:30 PM

A new guideline is set for C8 in another state, raising concerns about levels here.

The Vermont Department of Health announced a new C8 guideline of .02 parts per billion.

It says water containing more than this amount of C8 shouldn't be ingested.

Recent testing showed all of Vienna's wells are above the Vermont standard.

The federal level remains at .4 parts per billion.

DuPont, which sold its performance products division to Chemours, used the substance in its manufacturing process until last year.

A Chemours spokesperson released the following statement:

"Chemours is cooperating with US EPA to understand recent water testing information from Vienna and Parkersburg, West Virginia. Once the company has the opportunity to further discuss these matters with US EPA, more specific information will be available as to next steps."

Updated: 2/23/2016 5:50 P.M.

Five of the city's wells have levels of C8 just above .01 parts per billion.

That, from a sampling done earlier this month by a private firm hired by the city of Vienna.

Four of the wells posted numbers below .01.

While the U.S. EPA's safety standard is .04, it also is doing its own sampling.

The city plans to continue to monitor its drinking water until at least this summer.

"Hopefully, when the EPA gives us their results, they match perfectly," Mayor Randy Rapp said at a Tuesday morning news conference. "But we want to get a good feel for our testing procedures,to make sure they're in compliance with what the EPA expects us to do. Because ultimately, the bottom line is, we want good data."

Vienna was not part of the class subject to a lawsuit settled more than a decade ago with DuPont.

That's because no detectable levels of C8 were found there at the time.

A retired physician who conducted testing as part of that settlement believes, however, it's time to take another look at the issue.

"The science shows anything above .05 in the water, at least in a cholesterol study and probably an immune system study is too high," says Dr. Paul Brooks. "It will cause problems."

Brooks, now a member of Keep Your Promises DuPont, supports an independent study saying the safe level of C8 should be reduced to .01 parts per billion-the level found in Vienna's testing.

C8.

It's a chemical that's been used to make Teflon, and on Thursday, Vienna residents were made aware that it can be found in other places too, like water.

Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp presented data of city water, sampled throughout the year.

"What those numbers represent are sampling that was done for C8, or PFOA and PFOS," said Rapp. "And the numbers that are circled as you see them, are both above the .1 index."

While the federal regulation for C8 is .4 parts per billion, Rapp explained the Environmental Protection Agency's guideline is .1.

Vienna's C8 levels in their water are slightly greater than that, so Rapp decided to do something about it.

"We don't have enough data," said Rapp. "We cannot make an accurate picture of this with only two samples. And so what we've instituted is, we are now doing monthly sampling on our water wells."

On top of monthly sampling to monitor C8 levels, Rapp introduced five possible solutions, including isolating particular wells with higher C8 levels, connecting Vienna and Parkersburg water together, or simply using Parkersburg's water alone.

Well-known environmental lawyer Rob Bilott attended Thursday's meeting, and says he was impressed with Rapp's transparency.

"This chemical is turning up in other places across the country, and some of these communities aren't being told about it," said Bilott. "So it's great that this is being told to the folks here right as it's being found out."

While both Bilott and Attorney Harry Ditzler warned citizens of the long-effects of this chemical, Bilott says Vienna residents don't need to worry yet.

"For Vienna residents who are looking at these numbers and are feeling panicked, what would you say to them?"

"That it sounds to me like the city is doing what it should do in this situation," said Bilott.

Chemours, owner of the Performance Products Division where C8 was used, replied with this statement:

"We have been in contact with the U.S. EPA about the very low levels of PFOA in the drinking water of Vienna, West Virginia, and we will cooperate with the Agency as appropriate."