PINEVILLE, W.Va. (WOAY) – In a first-of-its-kind meeting, State Senator Rollan Roberts visited Pineville this past Thursday, becoming the first sitting senator to sit with residents impacted by the Wyoming County water crisis and outlined plans to move funding and infrastructure upgrades forward.
“There’s so many problems with water in Wyoming County, and one of my goals today was to meet with people on the ground. I’ll go later today and see some of the problems for myself, but I wanted to know what I could do as a state senator,” Sen. Rollan A. Roberts said.
Roberts hosted a community meeting last Thursday, hearing directly from those impacted by discolored streams, sulfur-smelling taps, and wells too contaminated to drink from.
“Step one, two, and three, I’m leaving today with that,” Roberts said. “That concept, that understanding of what we need to do, that will begin the domino effect to help the other things. I had no clue of that before I came today.”
What he learned on the ground differed from what he’d been told in Charleston.
“With issues like Indian Creek and the problems there, I found out that there are more people there who are impacted than what I was told in Charleston,” Roberts said.
Senator Roberts identified three key infrastructure projects: water system upgrades in Pineville, Brenton, and Baileysville, and committed to pushing for all three to begin construction simultaneously.
“I’m looking at three different projects, and we’re probably talking about 20-some-odd million dollars that needs to be done… so now what I will take with me back to Charleston is, oh, let’s get these projects under construction.”
He also noted that the long-awaited Indian Creek upgrade can only move forward once the others are complete.
“Their problems can’t get addressed until we deal with the Brenton and Baileysville area and those projects there, and then that can’t be solved until we deal with the town of Pineville’s upgrade,” Roberts said.
Although Roberts acknowledged that water lines can’t be installed and finished overnight, he says he’s not wasting time.
“Now, what I will take with me back to Charleston is: let’s get these projects under construction, and not one after another. That is going to take 20 or 30 years. Let’s do all of them at the same time,” Roberts said.
For residents, the meeting offered something they haven’t had in a long time, hope.
“Wyoming countyians are suffering in so many different ways. The economy is rough, there’s so little land available for them to own and have businesses and live,” Roberts said. “If there’s something I can do in a tangible way, and clean water is worth it, I’ll do whatever I can. It’s 2025, we should be doing better.”
Senator Roberts said he will now begin coordinating directly with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the Water Development Authority to keep the projects moving forward.
