Contractor: tetrahydrofuran spill damaged PVC pipe; crews, state responded and sampling ongoing

A contractor told the Hartsville board that a truck accident on Greenville Road released tetrahydrofuran, a solvent used in PVC glue, and that the chemical 'rubberized' and damaged a section of the town's water pipe. Mid 10 Engineering and an on-site mitigation firm described immediate containment steps, sampling and coordination with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).

Engineer representative (Speaker 4) said the product was identified as 'tetrahydrofuran, which is a, admixture chemical in of glue for PVC.' He described seeing a section of pipe that had been 'de rubberized' and said crews encased every damaged joint with concrete to secure connections when replacement gaskets were unavailable. Speaker 4 estimated the damaged section observed was about four feet and said mitigation crews removed contaminated soil and backfilled with new dirt rather than reusing on-site material.

Matt Church (Speaker 3), a mitigation contractor who said his firm was called by the county emergency management director, described the emergency response timeline and the hazards posed by the chemical. He said crews were called in the early morning after the wreck and that 'the flash point of this chemical is 7 degrees Fahrenheit' while temperatures on-site exceeded 90 degrees — a detail the contractor cited to underscore the potential for a catastrophic outcome. Church said his firm removed visible contamination, collected samples and submitted them to a certified laboratory; he added, 'We're a 100% confident when we leave this site, it's gonna be clean.'

Contractors and engineers told the board that some analytical results arrived quickly and that initial confirmation sampling showed roughly 85% of the visibly contaminated area had been cleaned, while some residual product was still detected in other samples. They said a full analytical 't-clip' suite can take five to seven days for results, and that some longer-turnaround tests can take up to two weeks. The contractor also said insurance carriers for the vehicle owner would be expected to reimburse cleanup costs and that the contractor will act as a liaison for documentation and claims.

Board members asked staff to publish a public notice and to keep customers informed when official confirmation permits lifting any water advisory. Staff and the mitigation team agreed to exchange all sampling results, photos and chain-of-custody documentation with the county so officials and the public can review the evidence.

Next steps: contractors will provide the board copies of lab reports and documentation when available; staff will continue to coordinate with TDEC and report back to the board when confirmation samples permit any change to public advisories.