KINGWOOD — A group of concerned residents met with commissioners Tuesday to discuss water problems in the Marquess area. The group requested a million dollars for a project that would provide water to their homes.
Monica Wolfe, who spoke for the group, said the water problem has plagued the area since the 1990s.
“We need water,” she said. “This is a problem. Some people don’t have water and have to haul it for both their use and to water their cattle.”
Wolfe said the area needing water is about 2 miles by 1 ½ miles. She said Newburg Water was appraised of the problem but did not take any action.
Edward Knotts said when told about the problem, Newburg officials said they didn’t want to work on two projects at once.
When contacted, Newburg Mayor Edgar Fortney said the Independence project is not completed, and it has to be finished before the town can consider another project. He said the AML funding the town received for its current project would only provide water to about 20 homes.
“We haven’t forgotten about those people,” Fortney said about Marquess. “But we have to provide water to 60 more Independence customers and add a booster station before we can begin another project.”
The Newburg water project was funded by an Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Grant. The project allowed the town to take its water line as far as the Independence School and provide water to about 20 homes. This is less than half of the 70 customers who signed up for service. The Newburg water board has been working on a plan to provide water to Independence since 2008.
Commission President Don Smith said he believed one project has to be completed before another one can be started.
Wolfe said the group of concerned citizens is requesting one million dollars from the commission to start and complete its water project.
“We’ve been trying to get water since the 1990s,” she said. “We want you to hire facilitator Randy Tichnell to work on our project, or the commission can start a new PSD so we can get something done.”
Wolfe quoted State Code 16-13-A-2 as providing the authority for the commission to add a new PSD.
“We need 25 million instead of 6,” Commissioner Dave Price said. “We have to look at maybe something that is in place that a half million would start, so there will be funding for projects elsewhere.”
Knotts said it would be a tragedy if the commission says another project that is shovel-ready gets the funding rather than Marquess, which has been trying to get water for 30 years.
“West Virginia can get millions (of dollars) for broadband,” he said. “I think water is more important than broadband.”
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