Letter urges $250M for WV drinking water fixes, targeting nine southern coalfield counties

CHARLESTON, W.Va (WCHS) — Many West Virginians still do not have access to safe, clean drinking water and this years legislative session didn’t bring much help to the long standing issue.

According to the EPA’s 2023 drinking water infrastructure needs survey assessment, West Virginia would have to invest $4.5 billion into water infrastructure over the span of the next two decades to improve water quality, but the states annual budget is only $5.5 billion.

Jennie Smith is the executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, a nonprofit aiming to conserve and restore water in the state.

This group, along with nearly 40 other organizations and nine state lawmakers sent a letter to congress requesting $250 million in funding to address water quality in the state.

“This problem is costing us billions of dollars. I think 4.5 billion will help solve the problem. So this is something that is just the start. We need long term consistent investment in our infrastructure, not only at the state and federal level so we’re hopeful that this opens the door to that,” Smith said.

The letter suggested that 50% of the $250 million goes to Boone, Fayette, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Raleigh, and Wyoming counties, which are areas that have repeatedly dealt with unreliable water for years.

Representatives Riley Moore and Carol Miller have submitted this language as part of their FY 27 appropriations requests. Although this funding wouldn’t solve West Virginia’s water problems for good, advocates said it would be a huge step to get households in the Southern coalfields clean, reliable water.

“We’re thrilled to see our representatives in D.C. step up and ask for this kind of support for our communities. It’s not going to be solved by like one organization or one community or one party,” Smith said.

The remainder of the $250 million would go towards funding a study from the EPA to identify and map all counties that do not have access to clean water.

“The study, if approved, that would would help us learn how to prioritize what we need to get done,” Smith said.

Next week, some of the organizations who signed off on the letter will be headed to D.C. to speak with congress about the scale of the issue and why their support is important.