KINGWOOD — Tunnelton Mayor Brian Harris said he has concerns about the response should Denver decide to buy water from Kingwood rather than Tunnelton.
At a Tuesday meeting, Harris told members of the Kingwood Water Board Tunnelton’s rates and loans are based on selling water to the Denver Water Association.
He said Denver currently gets its water from Tunnelton but does not have a contract with the town.
At its last meeting, members of the Kingwood Water Board voted to provide water to Denver inclusive of engineering and funding.
“If you try to move forward with this, I believe we will get a push back from both the PSC (Public Service Commission of West Virginia) and Rowlesburg,” he said. Tunnelton buys its water from Rowlesburg.
Denver Water Association Secretary Marlene Menear said Thursday that buying water from Kingwood would save the association thousands of dollars. She said Denver pays Tunnelton $6.49 per 1,000 gallons of water.
“We have to do our own pumping,” she said. “That costs us $400 to $500 extra a month.”
At an earlier meeting, Bradley C. Piggot, vice president of George E. Piggot and Associates, approached the Kingwood Water Board on behalf of the Denver Water Association’s 146 customers.
Piggot told board members Denver was interested in buying water from Kingwood. He said Kingwood has a hook-up within 500 feet of Denver’s water lines.
Pigott said Denver residents use between 15,000 and 25,000 gallons of water per day.
“We tried to give our system to Tunnelton free of charge,” Menear said. “They refused to take it.”
Menear said the Denver Water Association is debt-free.
“We are not considered a PSD; we’re a nonprofit. Because of that our rates are very low,” she said.
Menear said the Preston County Health Department said Denver’s pumps have to be moved. “They are below ground and things are rusting. It’s costing us a lot of money to maintain them.”
She said Piggot offered Denver two plans to move forward and improve its system.
“The cheapest was to buy our water from Kingwood. What we need from them was a copy of their minutes showing they would sell us water.”
Menear said over the years, Denver has had good working relationships with both Kingwood and Tunnelton.
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