n January 2014, something quietly broke in West Virginia.

A storage tank leaked a coal-processing chemical called MCHM (meth-uhl cyclo-hex-ane meth-uh-nol) into the Elk River, just upstream from Charleston’s main water intake. Within hours, 300,000 people were told to stop using their tap water entirely. Not just drinking. Not cooking. Not bathing. And critically—not boiling.

This episode follows the spill, the confusion, and the uneasy moment when officials declared the water “safe” while the smell still crept from faucets and shower heads. It’s a story about regulatory blind spots, acceptable risk, and what happens when the science runs out before the reassurance does.

Because when the water smells wrong, numbers stop meaning much.

And once trust evaporates, it doesn’t come back on command.

You’re listening to Paul G’s Corner—where history proves that saying it can’t happen here usually means it already did.

And don’t boil the water.

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