Frustration Grows Days After W.Va. Chemical Spill Frustration is mounting for many of the 300,000 West Virginia residents who've gone three days without clean tap water. Chris Laws found bottled water on Saturday for his two elderly next-door neighbors. "They can't get out," said Laws, 42, of Marmet, a coal miner. I'm keeping an eye on them. You got to watch out for your neighbors. They're the ones who are going to watch out for you. He said he was angry at the company at the center of the leak, Freedom Industries. "A lot of people are facing bad situations because of this," he said. They're struggling. What I don't understand is how did this happen? The emergency began Thursday following complaints to West Virginia American Water about a licorice-type odor in the tap water. The source: the chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, which had leaked out of a 40,000-gallon tank at a Freedom Industries facility along the Elk River. State officials said Saturday they believe about 7,500 gallons leaked. Most visitors have cleared out of Charleston while locals are either staying home or driving out of the area to find a hot meal or a shower elsewhere. Orders not to use tap water for much other than flushing toilets mean that the spill is an emergency not just for the environment but for local businesses. There's no question businesses have been hurt - particularly restaurants and hotels, said Matt Ballard, president of the Charleston Area Alliance, the state's largest regional chamber of commerce. "I don't know that it can be quantified at this point because we don't know how long it will last," Ballard said. I'm hoping a solution by early next week so business can get back to normal. The Alliance is urging business owners to check their insurance policies to see if they can make claims over lost sales. It plans to hold workshops to assist businesses with those issues, Ballard said. All told, 32 people have sought treatment at hospitals for symptoms such as nausea. Of those, four were admitted to the Charleston Area Medical Center but their conditions weren't immediately available. Federal authorities, including the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, opened an investigation into Thursday's spill. West Virginia National guard officials said they need a 24-hour period in which samples at the water treatment facility are below 1 part per million. Many samples are meeting the mark, but some are still hitting slightly above 1 part per million. After they achieve that goal, West Virginia American Water Company can begin sampling across the nine-county region and flushing the system. That process would take days, said company president Jeff McIntyre.