Clean drinking water has long been an issue throughout the state. It is one which would cost between $16 – $20 billion to fix.
In his State of the State address, Gov. Patrick Morrisey praised his administration for putting $74 million toward water and sewer projects last year.
“Clean water and functional infrastructure lift up the standard of living and propel economic growth in our communities,” he said.
A bipartisan pair of delegates wants the state to more than triple that amount this year to fund high-priority drinking water projects in long-neglected communities in southern West Virginia’s coalfields.
The bill, which will be introduced by Del. David Green, R-McDowell, and Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, would take $250 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and give it to nine counties in the southern coalfields to address drinking water projects.
The move would help hundreds of McDowell County residents who cannot get clean drinking water. And those who do can’t rely on the water to flow whenever they turn on their faucets.
Mavis Brewster, general manager of the McDowell County Public Service District, said over the years her agency has taken on a number of failed systems, doing everything it can to keep them going. But with some water projects spending upwards of a decade gathering dust, the costs and the needs continue to rise.
“It’s a funding issue,” she said.
For instance, Anawalt, a small, unincorporated town of fewer than 200 has had long-standing issues with pipes losing water. It also has 55 residents waiting to be tapped into the system. But with a $11 million project cost, the PSD has yet to begin work on maintenance it can’t afford.
Less than $2 million of the money Morrisey touted for water projects in his speech went to southern coalfield counties last year.
But it would cost $287 million to fund what the Department of Environmental Protection says are high priority projects in just four of those counties.
Hamilton said she was motivated to back the bill because she is originally from McDowell County. Nearly 50-years-old, she said the water issues in the county have been around all her life, but the rest of the state seems to neglect it. Her father still lives in the area.
“My father is 80 years old. He’s a veteran. He served this country. He’s an outstanding citizen. He deserves to have clean drinking water,” she said.
Green said he just wants to see the water issues fixed.
“The end goal is to get water in McDowell County and the other southern counties,” Green said.
But lawmakers are reluctant to dip into the $1.4 billion reserve fund, which is a key component to the state’s bond ratings.
Del. Vernon Criss, R-Wood County, chairs the House finance committee, where spending bills are vetted and sent to the House floor. He said using the Rainy Day Fund is an automatic no-go.
“This body and the Senate would have to agree on invading those Rainy Day funds, and that possibility would be pretty grave,” Criss said.
Criss said he would like to use excess money left over from the current budget to pay for those projects and put more funding in existing agencies like the Water Development Authority.
Green said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to get support for it from his fellow Republicans, who would want to address water issues in their own districts.
“I want it to go forward. I want it to be a success, okay? And I’ll run it no matter what. But I also hate doing things out of futility,” Green said.
Hamilton said she too has low expectations for the proposal, but she maintains hope for some kind of help.
“No matter how you look at how we spend this money, this request is good,” she said.
Drew Galang, a spokesman for the governor’s office, did not say whether or not Morrisey would sign the bill if it came across his desk.
“He (Morrisey) is looking forward to working with lawmakers on an array of solutions to improve water infrastructure statewide,” Galang wrote in a statement.
Pastor Brad Davis, a Methodist minister in McDowell County, helped formulate the bill for Green and Hamilton. Davis said he’s aware of the concerns surrounding the plan, but he wants something to be done about these drinking water systems.
“It’s a public health emergency, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “We need shovels in the ground yesterday to get this fixed.”