America’s water infrastructure is aging, and it’s an issue all over Appalachia, including Pittsburgh. On Saturday, April 27, Rolling Pepperoni went to a Martin County Concerned Citizens (MCCC) meeting at the Pigeon Roost Community Center in Pilgrim, KY. The residents’ cause for concern: a water crisis. A combination of contaminated water and failing infrastructure threatens the population of 12,000 in the easternmost county of Kentucky.
MCCC chair Nina McCoy, a retired biology teacher, started the group to raise awareness about water conditions in Martin County. With pro bono representation by attorney Mary Cromer of the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center (ACLC), the MCCC’s efforts have helped the Martin County Water District get millions of federal grant dollars to fix water infrastructure. Martin County is one water crisis in America, and how it’s handled sets an example for other communities facing similar problems as freshwater sources become limited and failing infrastructure needs to be replaced.
A weekend in Martin County, one of the poorest in the country, helped Rolling Pepperoni understand the crisis affecting those who live there.
Over the last century, Martin County has produced more than 430 million tons of coal. Now, in the wake of extensive mining activity, this beautiful area of central Appalachia is contaminated with heavy metals and carcinogens. One incident of mining-related devastation occurred in October 2000, when the Martin County coal slurry spill left the county’s water supply severely compromised. Over 250 million gallons of black sludge containing arsenic and mercury spilled into the Tug Fork River, the sole source of water for the Martin County Water District.
Mining jobs have diminished in the last few years, but underground toxins continue to seep into cracked pipes that service homes and businesses throughout the mountainous region. Despite the fact that President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty in Martin County over 55 years ago, it’s still one of the poorest counties in the nation. As is the case with many rural areas today, some residents are choosing to leave and the population is declining.
In January 2018, when years of financial mismanagement by the municipal government brought the county’s water infrastructure to a head, residents faced eight days of no running water, followed by six days of rationed water. The people of Martin County are demanding a solution to this issue, and Rolling Pepperoni spoke with community stewards who are vocal and passionate about their home, who are working together every day to make a difference in central Appalachia.
BarbiAnn Maynard, a member of MCCC, is Rolling Pepperoni’s Martin County tour guide. She stands at 4’ 10 1/2” and wears a “Kentucky Est. 1792” shirt with blue jeans and white sneakers. Her aquamarine eyes are lit with conviction as she talks about fighting water issues in Martin County for the last 18 years: how health warnings that used to be printed on water bills no longer are, how there were 29 boil water advisories in 2018, and how the Public Service Commission and water board hear her out before introducing new policies. “We can have a better future together if we all work together,” BarbiAnn says, “So that’s what we’re doing.”
To show Rolling Pepperoni the full scope on Martin County water, BarbiAnn invites us to an appointment she made with Idrees Kahloon, a U.S. policy correspondent at The Economist. She says she has volunteered her time giving this tour to hundreds of people to raise awareness on water issues she and her community face every day. The tour starts in Lovely, KY, where Wolf Creek flows into the Tug Fork River and was contaminated when the Massey Energy coal slurry impoundment broke in 2000. She looks at the water and says, “Kayaking, canoeing, rafting—it all sounds good for tourism, but it’s not safe. People played in it and ended up with odd forms of cancer.” She reminds us that the Martin County Water District is set up to service 600 homes and businesses, but it’s currently doing 3500, and in reality it can only handle 400.
Rolling Pepperoni story writer Jaclyn Sternick (left) at the Martin County intake on Tug Fork River with BarbiAnn Maynard (center) and Idrees Kahloon (right).
The tour continues at the wastewater treatment plant, where BarbiAnn shares her concern over chemicals used to treat the water. Two disinfection byproducts, Trihalomethanes and Haloacetic acids, are regularly found to be higher than the maximum contamination levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s a health concern for anyone using Martin County tap water. At the intake pump on Tug Fork River (above), we see machinery in disrepair. Then, as we drive to Curtis Crum Reservoir, which reached dangerously low levels last summer, we pass Little Mud Lick Road, Spruce Pine Hollow Road, Cornette Place, and Harvey Horn Drive. Next, we wind through the mountains on Turkey Creek Road, past white churches and makeshift cemeteries, until our final stop at the Martin County Water District (below) in Inez.
Nolan Sloan (left) with mother BarbiAnn Maynard (right) at the Martin County Water District. BarbiAnn says, “The more I do, the more people join in. At first it’s me alone, then it’s me and four people. Next it’s me and hundreds, me and thousands... I want to be an example. I get told daily I’m an inspiration. There’s hope.”
BarbiAnn makes sure her voice is heard by people like Jimmy Don Kerr, who started serving as treasurer on the Martin County Utility Board just before the two-week crisis of January 2018. He has since become chair of the board. “We are a catastrophe away from being where we were a year and a half ago,” he says. He elaborates on the background that led him to his current position: “I was asked to come in to focus strictly on finance. I own a mortgage company. I also sell houses and own apartment businesses […] I’ve taken businesses that are struggling, fix them, and stuff like that.”
As Mary Cromer, MCCC’s lawyer, describes, Jimmy Don inherited a financially stressed situation: “They really never had anyone with professional understanding of what is needed to run a water district. The situation has been allowed to have gotten worse over time. Back when there was coal severance tax money coming in, the county could throw some money at the companies to get things back in place. Then, the crisis state in January of 2018, when large parts of the county were shut off for two weeks, exposed what had been going on for years.“
At that time, Martin County’s water loss was estimated at 70% due to low pressure and leaky pipes. According to Jimmy Don, meters show the loss at about 38%. Forthcoming improvements include a hydraulic model and, pending grant funding, the development of a capital improvement plan. They’ve already raised about $8 million in federal grant funding, but there’s still a long way to go. Jimmy Don talks about his support network and how communities going through similar issues can help one another: “We’ve had a lot of people to lean on. Surrounding water districts have been very helpful. I could call them up and be like, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ We hope we can become that some day.”
Jimmy Don reflects on the people he’s worked with while serving as chair of the utility board: “The heroes are the men and women that go out in the field in the cold. I’m just a guy from here that loves where he’s from and wanted to help. It has changed my entire perspective on community service and being a community servant.” He emphasizes the importance of teamwork, and how crucial Mary is in uplifting the voices of the Concerned Citizens. He also credits MCCC chair Nina McCoy, who taught him biology in high school, with instilling a strong work ethic in him: “She had alternative viewpoints, and I enjoyed her classes. She made me work hard, made me realize what was out there for me. Whether she realizes it or not, she made a big impact on my life.”
Mary Cromer’s work through ACLC has helped expose the lax law enforcement by Kentucky state officials over the years. Their failure to regulate companies polluting the area, combined with financial mismanagement, led Martin County water to the severe state it’s in. Mary explains, ”Our message has to be, ‘You, regulator, there is an affordability threshold and you can’t go above that.’ We need to talk about affordability and protecting the rate-payers. Water is a basic human right, I fully believe that. We’ve got to elevate the conversation. We have this issue all across central Appalachia, so what are the additional measures we need to help rebuild these systems?” When asked about the future, she says, “I would hope more than anything to see the federal government commit to infrastructure funding. We’re talking about central Appalachia, but it’s really the entire country. Water systems are being neglected and are in need of repair. We need significant investment in public goods and public utilities.”
The ACLC has a Martin County Water Crisis Legal Fund that supports Mary’s work with MCCC, gets experts to testify about affordability issues, and brings the county’s water crisis into a more national perspective. The ACLC accepts donations, and those tagged with “Martin County Water” will go towards this cause.
In addition to sharing legal insight on the Martin County issue, Mary shares her personal story with Rolling Pepperoni: “When I was in high school, there was a large-scale mining operation that sunk all the springs and wells in the community. In the past, there had always been springs for cattle, and all our houses in the community relied on well water. The whole area went from having wells to no access to water. It was so shocking that that would happen. Even when you’re young and take things in stride, it was shocking that that would happen. No one sued to require that the mine company supply a replacement water supply as required. They went along with the buffalo water tanks. It was a way of buying people off so that they would cooperate.” Mary left the area to go to college in the early 1990s, and by the time she came back, sites of mountaintop removal were within an area of a couple square miles close to home. “Seeing the mountaintop removal impacted me,” she says.
Mary’s work through ACLC helps rally support for others, like BarbiAnn, who have witnessed and experienced hardships similar to her own. BarbiAnn calls herself and the people of Martin County resourceful and full of inspiration: “We adjust. We make meals with what we have. A lot of the things we do the same as anyone, and others are cultural.” After talking about cooking dandelion fritters, blueberry dumplings, and eating bacon cucumber sandwiches, she adds, “Gravy is my favorite beverage.” While looking over Goff Hollow, a former mining site where she brings visitors like Rolling Pepperoni, she says, “This, right here—the beauty of the mountaintop—gives me hope.” The people of Martin County need their infrastructure fixed, and they’re fighting for it with grit and hope for a better future
So, what can we do to help? Share this story. That’s why we’re writing it. Be aware of issues like this that impact people every day. We may see this story in isolated places right now, but it’s happening all around us. And, like BarbiAnn says, “We can have a better future together if we all work together.”
