Tanks stand at the Freedom Industries site, where a chemical leak contaminated drinking water for much of the Kanawha Valley.

A retaining wall at what is now the former site of Freedom Industries, where a 2014 chemical leak contaminated water for thousands in the Kanawha Valley.

Gazette A view of tanks 396 and 397, two of three tanks that housed the coal processing chemical MCHM at Freedom Industries.

Freedom Industries chief restructuring officer Mark Welch explains the lower trench — the area between Freedom’s tanks and the river, where a chemical called MCHM spilled into the Elk River in January.

Gazette A blue line marks the “critical” level for a pump in the lower trench at Freedom Industries. The pump routes potential storm water overflow away from the Elk River.

Black plastic, a pump and riprap are intended to keep overflow from entering the Elk River in the lower trench at Freedom Industries.

Containment booms float in the Elk River below the lower trench at Freedom Industries.