With Current Water Not Fit for Consumption, County Approves Water Extension to Murphy’s Station Road

March 4, 2023

Mountaineer News

Upshur County Commission

Hodgesville Public Service District Manager Terry Gould during the March 2nd Upshur County Commission meeting. / Mountaineer News Photo

BUCKHANNON - Hodgesville Public Service District Manager Terry Gould attended the Upshur County Commission meeting on the morning of March 2nd to address a critical situation on Murphy's Station Road, which is located along the Upshur/Barbour County line near Volga, WV. The dire situation affects seven residents who currently lack any access to clean drinking water.

"... the water samples presented show the water is unfit for consumption, it really is. It's bad. You wouldn't even want to wash your hands in it. So, what we've done through Region VII, is we've approached the critical needs fund in West Virginia for assistance with the project," Gould stated.

"But we are having to cross county lines. We will be going into Barbour County. Therefore, we need your permission to (go) into Barbour County, and we will be with the Barbour County Commission (on March 6th) explaining this to them," he said.

Watch Mr. Gould address the Upshur County Commission on March 2nd:

Gould also wanted to emphasize and make clear that the Upper Pecks Run Project, part of the expansion project, will not be affected in any way by this, and went on to briefly explain here:

Project Coordinator with the Region VII Planning & Development Council, Carrie Wallace, was also in attendance and addressed the Commission:

Carrie Wallace addresses the Upshur County Commission on March 2nd. / Mountaineer News Photo

“Right now, they are having to haul their water. The only thing they can use it for is to wash their vehicles. They cannot cook with it, they cannot wash their hands, they cannot bathe, they cannot drink it, so they’re in a dire situation in need of public drinking water,” Wallace said.

“They had testing done and there’s E. coli, chloroform, and a few other dangerous chemicals in their water, which is what’s preventing them from use,” she said.

The engineer on the project estimated the total cost of the project will be $390,000. Wallace further elaborated on the processes for funding:

Wallace explained to the Commissioners that the "Century Volga PSD currently does not serve the area, and we did reach out to them. we have a letter from them relinquishing that area to Hodgesville if they are willing to serve it," she said.

“The reason why Century Volga can’t serve it is because there’s a railroad track that crosses between their current line and the service area, and it’s very expensive to bore under railroad tracks and get the permitting in order to do so,” Wallace said.

“So, we plan to have all the information to the IJDC (WV Infrastructure Jobs and Development Council) by the March 10 deadline, and they’ll consider it in their technical review and funding committee meeting on the 24th, and then it would go to full council the week after that and we would know whether the funding was available,” she said.

If they are not successful in procuring funds in April due to critical needs funding availability, Wallace stated that another opportunity will become available in the June/July timeframe.

Wallace further explained the timeline for completion once funds do become available.

"The project Thrasher Engineering has put together... the schedule is aggressive with 10 months for construction. Basically, from the time that funding is awarded to completion. So it’s going to be a quick turnaround. There won’t be much construction time at all. They’ve done that just because of the situation the residents are (experiencing) in that area,” she said.

"And it's the only way they're ever going to get public water, to be quite frank," she said.

Wallace went into more specific details about the project's total cost of $390,000 and the state requirements moving forward.

“The West Virginia Public Service Commission requires that we get permission from the county in which the PSD is located, as well as the county in which the PSD would be entering. We don’t foresee any issues with that at all. Of course, they would love to see their residents receive public water as it’s needed," she said.

"I sent a letter of support to Tabatha Perry (Upshur County Administrator) for your consideration. If you are in support of this project, we would greatly appreciate it if we could include that in our grant application,” she concluded.

The Upshur County Commission unanimously approved the letter of support request for the project.