A Philly Giant grocery store is selling bottled water from near the Ohio train derailment, even after a Western Pa. chain pulled the product

At least one Giant supermarket in Philadelphia is selling water from a source near the Ohio train derailment that released toxic chemicals earlier this month, even as a Western Pennsylvania grocery store chain has removed bottled water from the same source from its shelves.

Giant Eagle, the Western Pennsylvania chain, voluntarily stopped selling the water, “out of an abundance of caution,” the company said in a statement Tuesday, noting there was no evidence the water was tainted.

But Philadelphia’s Giant stores, which are owned by a different company, are still selling gallon jugs of Acadia Spring Water. That’s because the water has shown no signs of contamination, a company spokesperson said.

Dozens of gallon jugs of Acadia Spring Water filled the shelves at the Giant on Columbus Boulevard when an Inquirer reporter visited on Friday. The water is supplied by Creekside Springs and bottled in Columbiana County, Ohio, the same county where the derailment happened, labels on the jugs said.

“The water quality is being tested regularly by the supplier,” said Ashley Flower, a spokesperson for Carlisle-based Giant Co., by email. “We remain in close communication with the supplier and are monitoring the situation.”

While the labels on Acadia Spring Water don’t identify which municipality in Columbiana County the water comes from, Creekside Springs’ website states the company sources and bottles water in Salineville, in Columbiana. That town is about 25 miles from East Palestine.

» READ MORE: What if a train derailment like Ohio’s happened in Philly?

Creekside Springs, based in Ambridge, Pa., did not return calls for comment. Giant and Creekside Springs did not say when the water being sold was bottled, or drawn from its source.

The jugs at the Columbus Boulevard Giant had an expiration date of Feb. 16, 2025.

The Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine involved a Norfolk Southern train with five cars carrying vinyl chloride, a colorless, sweet-smelling gas used to make plastics and associated with some types of cancer after prolonged exposure.

The chemical can also be explosive, and officials decided to slowly release the gas and burn it, prompting local residents to evacuate before the burn created a plume of flames and black smoke, the Associated Press reported.

As the vinyl chloride burned, it released two other potentially toxic gasses: hydrogen chloride and phosgene.

The Environmental Protection Agency also reported the derailment led to the release of additional toxins — butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether — into the air, soil, and water.

Giant Eagle did not identify its supplier as Creekside Springs but said its water is sourced from Salineville. It stopped selling gallon jugs from that source this week.

The Salineville water comes from a higher elevation than East Palestine and is not near groundwater affected by the derailment, Giant Eagle noted in its statement. (Giant Eagle is not affiliated with the Giant grocery stores in the Philadelphia area.)

“A third-party lab has been regularly testing Salineville’s raw water sources and finished products and has not found any evidence that the water has been negatively impacted,” the Giant Eagle statement said.

» READ MORE: Ohio train derailment involves same chemical that was released in the Philly region a decade ago

The EPA reported Feb. 20 that water from wells in East Palestine was safe. Almost 60 wells in Ohio and Pennsylvania have been tested, the EPA reported, and Columbiana County is still testing private wells.

The environmental advocacy group, the Ohio River Valley Institute, noted in a report this week there are signs of water contamination in the area, including a plume containing butyl acrylate identified in the Ohio River that prompted Cincinnati to temporarily turn off its water intakes from the river.

Joanne Kilgour, executive director of the institute, said water suppliers in the area should be transparent about the tests they’re performing and when water being sold now was bottled.

“We do know that there is still outstanding testing to be done and information to be collected about the local impacts to water quality and soil,” she said in an interview Friday. “It would be important to have more information.”