25
2009
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 .
21
2009
“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.
14
2009
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.
02
2009
Our intrepid volunteers from PAN
On January 11th, we had a wonderful bunch of volunteers come all the way from Fayetteville (and one from Blacksburg!) to insulate barrels in Prenter. We have been insulating barrels with cardboard, plastic sheeting and heat tape to help prevent freezing. Despite the bitterly cold and snowy day, these guys never lost their enthusiasm. They worked until the sun was going down and we ran out of materials… and they hardly wanted to quit! We insulated 41 water barrels in Prenter that day, nearly one-third of the total. One speedy crew even insulated a barrel in only 11 minutes (trust me, that’s fast). Thanks so much to each and everyone of you for coming out on your day off to give us a hand. Thanks to Maria Lambert for a delicious, much needed lunch and to Savanna for getting this whole thing together.
Read more about Plateau Action Network’s day in Prenter here.
Volunteers finish wrapping up another barrel
18
2009
Great news everyone!
On Wednesday the 14th, Gov. Manchin announced the awarding of $17 million in Small Cities Block Grants including $1.5 million to bring clean water to Prenter! Phase one of the water line project in Prenter is now fully funded. We have been told they expect to break ground by some time this summer. This is wonderful news and a testament to the persistence and dedication of the folks in Prenter who have been fighting for this for a long time. However, the fight is far from over. Phase one of the water line only covers approximately 150 of the 250 households in Prenter Hollow. The other two phases haven’t even been formally proposed as projects by the Boone County Public Service District, let alone funded. Continued public pressure will be needed to ensure that all residents of Prenter have access to clean, safe drinking water.
01
2009
Happy New Year!
As of a couple of days ago, all 150 barrels that we purchased have been installed and filled! The enthusiasm from the community has just been incredible, and requests for barrels just keep pouring in. This is a proud moment for us, but we are also facing the fact that there are many many more Prenter residents who want water delivered than we are able to provide for at this time. Already there are over a dozen households waiting for us to get more barrels. While the outpouring of generosity has been wonderful thus far, more is need to expand the program to cover all of the community. We need at least 100 more barrel set-ups to meet the need in Prenter. Unless we find free or heavily discounted materials, it will cost us at least $7000 more. Anyone with ideas about access to funders or who would like to help us set up speaking engagements, please contact us as soon as possible. Thank you so much.
24
2008
Wonderful news!
Today marks the very first delivery of water to folks in Prenter! We filled about 30 barrels on today’s run, with many more to come tomorrow. This Christmas, clean drinking water is the best gift of all.
We got some more coverage in local TV news and there will be another article in tomorrow’s Charleston Gazette. You can read it here now.
Thanks so much to everyone that helped make this possible. We can’t tell you how happy and grateful we are.
Hopefully, we will have pictures and video up soon, but for now Merry Christmas and three cheers for water!
18
2008
Please forward this message to all of your networks
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Hi Everyone,
We have had some fantastic progress with the Prenter Water Fund in the past couple of months. (If you have lost our initial email or never got it, you can get it here.) Thanks to some hard work and the support of folks like you, we now have all the equipment required for the water delivery project! We have installed 101 barrels at 74 households throughout the Prenter community, and the enthusiasm for the project has been incredible. We have also gotten some amazing media coverage. Check out this front page headline article in the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia largest newspaper, and this excellent TV story from CBS local affiliate WOWK. But we need your help now more than ever.
The only thing preventing water delivery from beginning tomorrow is a lack of funds to pay our driver and the ongoing costs of the project. With as little as $1500, Prenter residents won’t have to wait one more day for clean, safe drinking water. If you considered giving to the project and haven’t gotten around to it, please give today. If you have donated to us in the past, you have our deepest gratitude and please consider giving just a little more. Our goal is to have clean drinking water at people’s homes in time for the holidays. The greatest gift you give this season can be the gift of life-saving water.
Click here to donate online now or mail a check to:
Prenter Water Fund
c/o Coal River Mountain Watch
PO Box 651
Whitesville, WV 25209
Thank you so much for your support and happy holidays,
The Prenter Water Fund Staff
17
2008
Here are some recent news stories concerning the issues in Prenter
Channel 13 WOWK
Community Works to Ease Water Burden
The Charleston Gazette
Water is “to toxic to touch” in Boone County town.
Prenter residents import water, say groundwater contaminated
WSAZ ch 3
Has a short video up on thier front page
16
2008
This morning we launched our press release. Here it is. You can send it to any media outlets you have contacts With. Thank you.
FOR IMMEIDIATE REALEASE
Contact Glen Collins or Mathew Louis-Rosenberg at 304-854-1937
email glen@prenterwaterfund.org
West Virginians start fund for emergency clean water
Toxic well water creating deadly health problems in mining communities
PRENTER, W.VA. – Worried that slow government response to their pleas for clean water is needlessly causing more community-wide illness, residents of Prenter, W.Va., have organized the Prenter Water Fund. They are encouraging all West Virginians to donate to the fund.
The fund will allow community residents to truck in emergency clean water to the community, where well water has become too toxic to touch. The emergency water could help save lives until the Boone County Public Service District (PSD) brings a water line to Prenter. Phase One of the water line project is supposed to begin within one year. But, a significant proportion of the community has devastating health effects now, which are sometimes lethal.
The Boone County PSD, Boone County Commission and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection all agree that the water in Prenter is not fit for human consumption.
“Some have stopped their little girls from having a bath because they were getting symptoms of having urinary tract infections as young as 18 months, and as soon as they stopped with baths or took them elsewhere to bathe the UTI problems stopped,” Prenter resident Maria Lambert said. “We had a friend in Laurel Creek pass away recently after a short bout with cancer and a couple more diagnosed just in the past few weeks. We never know who will be next.”
Residents suspect that blasting at nearby strip mines has changed groundwater chemistry and flow, causing injected toxic coal slurry waste to contaminate the wells. To “dispose” of slurry, a multi-billion-gallon byproduct of washing coal for market, coal companies either inject it into abandoned underground mines or impound it behind very large earthen dams. Residents noticed their water going bad as early as 2003.
“This coincides with the periods of heavy blasting and similar accounts of other people in the community,” said Bobby Mitchell, who has spent extensive time gathering information on Prenter’s water problems. “They spoke of their water not flowing for days at a time. Then, when the flow would come back, it would be degraded or running red or black.”
“The tragedy in Prenter and other Appalachian communities is that folks had good water, then over a period of time their water gradually degraded to the point where it is obviously not fit for bathing, much less drinking and cooking,” said Dr. Benjamin M. Stout, III, biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University who has tested well water in Prenter. “During that period of degradation, from good to obviously unfit, they have been unknowingly exposed to high levels of metals that have well-known human health consequences.”
Stout has tested ten wells out of an approximate 250 households. Tests indicate levels of antimony, lead, iron, manganese, barium, beryllium, aluminum and hydrogen sulfide gas, among other toxins, that far exceed safe drinking water standards. Arsenic and lead are the top two substances on the American Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s list of priority pollutants, and hair tests of local residents show astronomical numbers. Some homes have such a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide that electrical outlets need to be replaced every two years due to corrosion.
Cancers, gallbladder disease, kidney failure and corroding teeth are a fraction of the problems found in Prenter.
“Ninety-eight percent of the people I’ve seen on Prenter Road have gallbladder disease; children’s teeth are dissolving,” said Pam Johnson, R.N., who is doing a health survey of area residents. “Before I went down there I thought that people were exaggerating their problems, but when I got there, I realized that they were underreporting their health problems. There’s a five-year-old with a full set of dentures.”
“If you can stop them from drinking the water,” Johnson said, “you can stop people from getting worse.”
To cover start up costs, the Prenter Water Fund secured a donation from the Vivian and Paul Olum Charitable Foundation. The fund bought 150 55-gallon barrels and hand pumps, as well as a tank to haul the water. A local resident has been hired to drive the delivery truck. A total of $15,000 in future donations will cover the operating costs of the emergency water project for one year.
To make a Tax-deducitble donation to the Water fund. visit www.prenterwaterfund.org, send to Prenter Water Fund c/o coal river mountian watch P.O. box 651, whitesville, WV 25209 or call Matt ot Glen at 304-854-1937. the project is a collaborative effort of residents of Prenter and Coal River Mountian Watch . all dontaions designated for the prenter water fund go toward getting and delivring water.
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to view a PDF of this release click here