CEDAR GROVE, W.Va. — The West Virginia National Guard is assisting a Kanawha County community facing water distribution problems.
Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy said Friday afternoon the Guard will truck water to Cedar Grove, East Bank and Glasgow this weekend to refill three water tanks owned and operated by the Cedar Grove water system. The banks have been at low levels in recent days.
Hardy said Cedar Grove’s is low because it’s been helping West Virginia American Water customers and it’s had its own line breaks because of the cold weather.
Cedar Grove has its own system that takes in water from the Kanawha River and services residents and businesses in Cedar Grove, Glasgow and East Bank. Hardy said their help during the water crisis has been significant.
“They’ve been willing to provide water to other parties in the Upper Kanawha Valley and now we need to step forward and help them,” Hardy said.
The National Guard is getting the water from West Virginia American Water’s plant in Montgomery, which is was not impacted by the water crisis on the Elk River. The Guard will also be assisting in a water line break in Cedar Grove’s system.
Commissioner Hardy hopes things are back to normal by the end of the weekend. The commissioner stopped short of calling the Cedar Grove situation a crisis.
“It certainly has the potential to be a problem, a big problem. You have a nursing home involved there, two good sized schools, we’ve got to get a handle on this quickly,” Hardy said.