This Wednesday, Governor Patrick Morrissey held a press conference in Beckley to follow up on his two-day listening tour across the southern coalfields earlier this month. From Huntington to Princeton and several town halls in between, the governor heard the voices of residents dissatisfied with unsafe drinking water and poor infrastructure:
“The water situation hasn’t been what we know it needs to be… We listened, we learned, and now we’re taking action. And so every single community that I visited, we’re going to have some action that’s going to be associated with that.”
Morrisey announced funding for multiple initiatives, both statewide and in individual counties. The first was three million dollars authorized for West Virginia VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) to assist communities with disaster relief and road access following recent flooding.
“It could be that families who are having trouble accessing their homes – Could be money that is used for bridges. It could be money used to help the communities – the disaster-torn areas.”
Morrisey also said the state is partnering with American Water to address problems in Wayne County, emphasizing the need for political accountability surrounding infrastructure projects.
“In Wayne County, we learned of some systems losing about 70% of their treated water before it ever reached the customer. Unbelievable… We brought American Water in to begin to help identify those leaks. And we’re trying to put resources behind those repairs. That’s important because we want to make sure that all the water that’s intended to flow actually does.”
The biggest change for clean water statewide:
“…a minimum of $145 million. This is as a result of doing a water listening tour for the state of West Virginia in our communities, which we think can help unlock another $450 million.”
Morrisey said more clean water projects will be announced in the future. Referencing the money his administration has already spent, as well as funds acquired through federal, municipal, and private sources, Morrisey estimates that over $1 billion will fund water projects over the course of his tenure as governor.
Acquiring that money and putting it to good use requires proper planning. Morrisey announced the state’s partnership with WVU and Marshall University’s Grant Resource Centers.
“We will be partnering with WVU and Marshall and our 11 Regional Planning and Development Councils to bring new expertise to these communities.”
With everything in place for water projects, Morrissey says the state will put new systems in place to make sure developers follow through and allow citizens to hold them accountable:
“We’re going to be tracking projects, and we have to hold people accountable to make sure we get the projects done… That means creating a new public dashboard, showing where the water funding applications are and where the projects stand.”
