To get drinking water, Burlyn Cooper and his neighbors have to collect runoff from the rock face of a mountain. It’s contaminated, but it’s all they have.
Researchers found high levels of contaminants in the water from the Coopers' wells. The water leaves behind a thick sludge and a rash across Burlyn's skin."This is absolutely at an individual, community, and nation level a crisis," said George McGraw, founder and CEO of DigDeep.McDowell County is rich with water. Rivers and streams course through dense forests.
Today, many McDowell residents are living through a water crisis, McDowell County Commissioner Cody Estep said. Some towns have been under boil-water advisories for years. Many locals rely on wells, but those are vulnerable to contamination from their surroundings, and can be expensive to fix. An estimated two-thirds of homes lack basic wastewater treatment, and many homeowners pipe waste straight into nearby streams."People are beat down," he said."Our population is aging.
Cash-strapped rural utilities often finance upgrades through a patchwork of state and federal funds, including loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But McDowell is already saddled with debt from such loans, Brewster said, and pays about $34,000 to cover it each month. That means she and her team spend a substantial amount of time applying for grants, so the utility won't have to take on more debt or raise rates.
McDowell needs industry and jobs to grow, but it can't attract economic opportunity without basic infrastructure, like water. To solve its water crisis, he said, the county that once helped power the nation needs federal help. Meanwhile, Americans of color and rural communities have fallen through the cracks, said McGraw, DigDeep's founder. There is little federal data on the demographics of water and sanitation access, but recent research conducted by the nonprofit found that race is the strongest predictor of access, with Black and Latino families twice as likely as white families to lack running water. More than 17 percent of rural Americans report having experienced issues accessing safe drinking water.
She needed that help when, last January, after her 76-year-old sister entered the hospital with Covid-19, the water went out again. Her sister died and the water didn't come back. Without water, Mason couldn't cook for her family or bathe in her bathroom, and she couldn't have relatives stay at her home while they visited to attend her sister's funeral.Elizabeth Mason's pipes are now so unreliable her water can be out for weeks at a time.
Like other families who live farther up the mountain, their wells have become so laden with contaminants the water is no longer safe to drink. It was after a company drilled for natural gas near their home, the Coopers said, that the water went bad. Now, securing water is a daily chore.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Department of Justice Says Anti-Trans Legislation in Arkansas and West Virginia Is UnconstitutionalThe DOJ says that anti-trans laws in both states violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
Read more »
DOJ: 2 states' transgender restrictions unconstitutionalDOJ challenges bans involving transgender people that target athletes in West Virginia and children in Arkansas, slamming them as violations of federal law.
Read more »
Justice Department challenges 2 states' transgender restrictionsThe U.S. Justice Dept. has challenged bans involving transgender people that target athletes in West Virginia and children in Arkansas, slamming them as violations of federal law.
Read more »
DOJ: 2 states' transgender restrictions unconstitutionalCHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday challenged bans involving transgender people that target athletes in West Virginia and children in Arkansas, slamming them as violations of federal law.
Read more »
Stacey Abrams says she supports Manchin's voting rights compromiseThe leading voting rights activist said she supported the West Virginia senator's compromise during a Thursday morning interview on CNN.
Read more »
How Pharrell Williams helped Virginia make Juneteenth a holidayPharrell Williams helped make Juneteenth a Virginia state holiday after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's racially offensive yearbook photo resurfaced in 2019.
Read more »