By Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch
The state of West Virginia is committing $145 million to address the longstanding water infrastructure issues that plague residents in the state’s southern coalfields, according to an announcement from Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
The monetary commitment comes after Morrisey went on a two-day water listening tour across Southern West Virginia. He said that tour was integral to teaching him and his staff more about the problems that leave thousands of residents without access to clean, dependable drinking water in their communities.
Specifics for how the $145 million will be spent were not provided Wednesday. While Morrisey gave some examples of issues he learned about during his water tour, there was no breakdown of what projects specifically would be receiving funds, or the amount of funds they could see.
Morrisey said the state “looked under every cushion and sofa cover” to find the money that is now being allocated. He said the investment today “could help unlock” an additional $450 million from various sources, including the state and federal governments, matching funds and private investments.
In addition to promising funding, Morrisey said that the state will also be honing in on how to better support struggling water utilities and the communities that rely on them. A new partnership between the state, West Virginia University and Marshall University will allow smaller utilities — which often don’t have the staff or capacity needed to operate efficiently — to access technical assistance and grant-writing.
Morrisey dubbed his new water initiative the “Clean, Clear Water Strategy.” In addition to the new partnerships with WVU and Marshall, it hinges on four fundamentals:
- Increasing transparency and accountability for water projects, including the implementation of a new public dashboard to show where the projects stand, as well as intermittent reviews to identify delays and ensure agencies are working together
- Shifting funding priorities for projects to ensure that communities experiencing immediate challenges — public health concerns, long term boil water advisories and financial distress — “receive greater consideration”
- Working with the Legislature to “modernize” laws that dictate how water utilities operate and how resources are distributed
- Public reporting on how many new water lines are being built or replaced, the number of treatment facility upgrades, new connections for homes and businesses and more
Water infrastructure is expensive to fix for even well-funded utilities under the state’s current funding structures. A majority of the money available comes from long-term loan funds, which can be difficult to pay off for small, already cash-strapped utilities. The cost of those loans is often directly passed on to ratepayers, as bills paid by customers are the only source of income for most of the state’s public water and wastewater utilities. That means residents are left to pay higher rates for services that are still inadequate.
The new funding opportunity comes after residents in the coalfields have spent years — and, for some, decades — sounding the alarm on the crises unfolding in their backyards. Residents and advocates have shown up at the state capitol year after year begging for state-level attention on the issues, including increased funding to alleviate the challenges and a focus on correcting the root cause of some of them, like disturbances from nearby coal mining activities.
According to the Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council’s 2023 statewide needs assessment survey — the most recent published — it’s estimated that nearly $18 billion is needed to upkeep and rehabilitate the state’s existing water and sewage infrastructure as well as to expand water and sewage service to all structures in the state.
As of that report, about 64,000 West Virginians are not connected to a centralized water service, while almost 254,000 residents go without sewage service. Of those who are served, thousands more live with inadequate service — leaky lines that lead to high water loss rates, persistent service outages, long-term boil water notices, contaminants that could impact health and more.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: [email protected].
