Va. Guard personnel assist W. Va. water sampling operations - Jan. 19, 2014

Members of the Virginia National Guard's Fort Pickett-based 34th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team assist with collection, data entry and transport of water samples collected for testing Jan. 19, 2014, in Charleston, W. Va. Fourteen Virginia Guard Soldiers and Airmen from the 34th CST are assisting the West Virginia National Guard in the wake of a chemical leak that contaminated the water supply for thousands of residents.

West Virginia officials lifted water restrictions that began Jan. 9, but water sampling continues to evaluate the water supply. Officials say they will continue testing until the system has been sampled and tested at 1/100 parts per million (10 parts per billion), a level well below the Center for Disease Control recommended threshold for public health and considered to be the level of non-detection.

More than 500 members of the West Virginia National Guard have been on duty assisting with water testing and distribution of bottled water to residents in support of the state's multi-agency response to the situation.

CSTs from Tennessee, Ohio and Washington, D. C. initially deployed for duty to assist the West Virginia Guard's 35th CST with water sample collection, inputting tracking information and transporting samples to testing labs for evaluation. CSTs from Virginia and Pennsylvania arrived Jan. 18 to continue support after the initial CSTs departed.

CST personnel have a unique skill set related to the protocols of collecting, labeling, tracking and transporting samples to ensure the the proper chain of custody and the integrity of the sample evaluation.