From rail safety to water testing, there's still concern from residents in Ohio about how safe the air and water is after the train derailment, some of those concerns have made their way to the Erie community.

Dr. Sherri Mason, the Director of Sustainability and an Associate Research Professor at Penn State Behrend said there should be a low to moderate concern over any emissions making their way into our community, but the concern doesn't necessarily lie with the water. Dr. Mason said that the tap water we consume or wash our hands or clothes with every day is tested regularly and filtered.

"There's a difference between what you are getting in your stream and getting from your tap and it does go through that water treatment process and that is regularly tested per government regulation and so I think we can feel confident and what we are getting from our tap and I think that it needs to be separated from concern we may have about what e are getting in our air", said Dr. Mason.

According to Dr. Mason, the larger rivers and other water waterways are tested when there is a cause for concern.

Dr. Mason said if people are concerned it should be more about the air and any emissions of the chemicals that have made their way in our direction due to the heavy winds and snow fall that we experienced after the derailment. 

"The bridge which is the only chemical that so far I've seen specifically named as being released as a very free so the likelihood that in the transmission as it was released to the point where it would be raining possibly raining down it probably underwent significant atmospheric degradation in that process and you know my understanding that would that would really kind of decrease the the likelihood of of a chemical of concern", said Dr. Mason.


Dr. Mason also said this could be a wake up call that more things need to be done when it comes to railways and infrastructure to prevent these kinds of things from happening.