CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A southern West Virginia public service district has decided to sell its troubled water system to West Virginia American Water Company.
The system operated by the Boone Raleigh PSD along state Route 3 has been leaking 60 percent of the water it produces, West Virginia American Water External Affairs Manager Laura Jordan said the system that has 470 customers in the Sylvester and Whitesville has had its share of problems.
“It’s been a lack of investment, a lack of maintenance, a lack of expertise in running the system,” Jordan said. “It’s just been compounded by years and years of neglect and unfortunately just lack of investment in their infrastructure.”
The system’s water treatment plant has also had problems over the years and been cited by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Jordan said her company has a line not far from the Boone Raleigh PSD line so improvement in the system is expected quickly by constructing an interconnection line.
“It will be on us to extend the line and then we’ve also offered our expertise, our equipment, our materials, our resources to help them fix some of the leaks in their system,” Jordan said.
After things get stabilized, West Virginia American Water plans to work with the PSD and Boone County Commission on a permanent agreement that would allow the water company to purchase the system.
The moves have to approved by the state Public Service Commission.
Delegate Rodney Miller, D-Boone, is applauding the proposed solution to the problem.
“A tremendous amount of work has taken place behind the scenes to get to this point,” Miller said in a news release. “I’m glad to have the opportunity to help bring all parties together for this solution because our citizens will certainly benefit from the effort of these organizations and their leaders.”