March 28, 2009

“A lot of people in our area are sick due to the effects of drinking the water,” because of unhealthy levels of manganese, lead, arsenic and iron, said Rollo, a teacher at Sherman Elementary School.

“A lot of the kids who live in the Prenter area and go to school here are affected by the water,” she said.

Rollo was one of several residents to speak to two-dozen volunteers from the Community Lutheran Partners and Lutheran Youth Organization.

They arrived from the Eastern Panhandle, the Morgantown-Clarksburg area and Huntington to distribute 2,000 one-gallon jugs of drinking water. The Lutheran volunteers included adults, high school and middle school students, and a group of Shepherd University students.

Community residents told the volunteers that cancer, kidney disease, gallbladder problems, tooth enamel loss, infertility and skin irritations are among health issues that occur with alarming frequency in the Prenter area - one of the few sections of Boone County not yet connected to city water.

“The only thing we all have in common is that we all drink the same well water,” said Billy Arden of the Sand Lick section of Prenter.

Arden said he is one of six people in the Sand Lick area to develop a brain tumor in recent years. His turned out to be benign and was removed, but three other residents have died from malignant tumors.

“The national average for brain tumor incidences is one for every 100,000 people,” said Jennifer Massey, a Sand Lick resident, whose brother was one of those who died. “We’ve had six within an area of 10 homes.”

The Prenter area residents said well water problems began to increase dramatically several years ago, after area mines began injecting coal slurry into the ground.

“All the shots that are set off with hilltop mining in the area have been breaking up the rock strata, letting the sludge get into the groundwater,” said Arden.

Well water now stains sinks, tubs and shower stalls orange, causes gelatinous sludge to form in toilet tanks, and often bears an unpleasant odor.

“When I come back from a week of deer hunting in Randolph County, the water in my toilet has gone from clear to black,” said Arden.

Wheeling Jesuit University biology professor Ben Stout, who has been involved with the testing of well water from Prenter, said in December that the water has been “degraded to the point where it is obviously not fit for bathing, much less cooking and drinking.”

Before realizing that the water was unsafe to drink, community residents “have been unknowingly exposed to high levels of metals that have well-known human consequences,” Stout said.

 Massey said state health officials have agreed to look at a community-produced survey of medical problems in the Prenter area with an eye toward launching a study of their own to determine what role contaminated water may have played in elevated incidences of disease.

Boone County Commissioner Mickey Brown thanked the Lutheran volunteers for their efforts in behalf of the people of Prenter, “who direly need safe water.”

The Boone County Commission has kick-started a project to extend municipal drinking water lines from Seth into most of the Prenter area by fronting cash to start construction before grant money arrives.

“You should have city water by the end of this year,” he told Prenter area residents attending Saturday’s program.

After the meeting, the volunteers trucked cases of gallon water jugs into the Prenter area, and then carried the water door to door, distributing 10 jugs per family.

“Thank you so much,” said Rhonda McCormick, as Shepherd student Casey Maxwell and Dana Gustafson of Bridgeport High lifted water jugs over her fence. “This will really help with my cooking.”

McCormick said her 22-year-old son, Joshua, has developed kidney cancer and has had one kidney removed, and she is dealing with thyroid cysts. She said she suspects those health issues can be traced to contaminated well water.

“It’s like something out of ‘Erin Brockovich,’” said McCormick, referring to the movie starring Julia Roberts, in which residents of a small California town began developing health problems after its water supply was contaminated by pollution from a natural gas compressor station.

“But I never thought the Erin Brockovich story would happen here.”

After the deliveries were complete, the volunteers gathered at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in Charleston to reflect on the day and unwind.

“I think we helped them, at least for a little while,” said volunteer Kelly Cunningham of Huntington. “They were very welcoming. It feels good to be helping someone.”

“The fact that their situation seems normal to them is something that struck me,” said adult volunteer Mark Burd of Bridgeport. “And it’s kind of sad that no authority group has come out and said, ‘hey, we’ve got a problem here. Let’s fix it.’”

Reach Rick Steelhammer at

rsteelhamm…@wvgazette.com

or 304-348-5169

Making choices is so hard when we have so many good, bad and needed things in a community.

We have many wonderful neighbors in our communities, this is our number one asset.

We have been working on the barrel project for about 6-8 months now.
If not for donations from community members, friends and organizations we wouldn’t be able to provide the free water service. We also understand that the pumps are hard to use sometimes and we are still working on finding a better way. Lowes’ carry a Drill Pump(cost is about $6.94) that is used with the help of a power drill, some PVC pipe or plastic tubing and they work quite well.

The fundraising is on going. All donations are excepted and very much appreciated.

If any of our local area churches would like to hold fund raisers, donations are tax deductable.
Your help would be extremely appreciated.

The Lutheran Org. will hold a Water Weekend on March 28th 2009. With the help of community members, teachers and friends, several students, while learning why clean water is important will also deliver gallons of water to residents along Prenter Road .

“For the past 7 months thirteen women from the Big Coal River area of Boone County (including Prenter, Seth, Racine and Ashford) have been taking photographs to “tell the story” of their community, including the beauty, the strengths, the problems, and the things we would like to see changed.”

“The Photos from this project will be on display in the Sherman High School cafeteria on March 30th 2009 from 6-9 pm. The PhotoVoice participants will also lead a discussion about possible community improvement project ideas for thiis area.”

Everyone is welcome.

Much thanks to the many people and groups (CRMW, OVEC, Plato Action Network…etc…) who have helped with the funding and execution of our barrel project. Although many are still with out a clean water source we are trying very deligently to get more supplies with which to help more residents it’s a slow going process but at the same time successful. Without the private donations we would not be able to reach out to the people we have so far.

We have had some very good news with the PSD waterline project. I heard today they had ordered 10,000 feet of pipe with which to start the line as soon as the weather breaks. The County Commission and the PSD have worked very hard to get this line going. The funding from the PSD, Boone County Commission and the Small Cities Block grant are on track and moving forward.

But again I remind people we still need a supply of clean water until this line is finished.

And please do not drink your water from your spigots it is not safe. Thank you again for your patience, we are a work in progress.