Governor Morrisey says new legislation is coming after recent "water listening tour"
- 22 minutes ago
- 2 min read
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey has wrapped up a two-day listening tour across southern West Virginia focused on improving water infrastructure.
Governor Morrisey says new legislation is coming after recent "water listening tour"
Robert Fields | WVOW News
PRINCETON The governor met with residents, local officials, water operators and business leaders during stops in Huntington, Wayne, Fort Gay, Crum, Williamson, Oceana, Welch, Gary, War and Princeton to discuss aging infrastructure, water loss and the financial challenges facing smaller systems.
"First, the most important thing is every trip we learn something and every community teaches us something new," Morrisey said during his tour's final media event in Princeton.
"I know that we've been working aggressively to try to make improvements and in fact to put significant resources in,” Morrisey said. “All told over $550 million have gone in since I've been serving as governor, but I want to look and learn what's on the ground to make sure we're applying the resources most effectively and that means clean drinking water coming out of the pipes.”
Among that $550 million invested since Morrisey took office, his administration says more than $174 million of that has gone toward direct state grants and loans to smaller water systems. During a stop in the Town of Gary, the governor announced a $1.4 million award for local water infrastructure improvements.
Officials in Wayne County told the governor their system pumps nearly one million gallons of water each day but loses about 700,000 gallons before it reaches customers because of aging infrastructure.
“That’s unbelievable, especially when you think of the normal – the averages out there. That means there’s a lot of wasted money. That’s wrong. That helps increase the rates,” Morrisey said. “You know, at a time when we want to make sure we’re stressing affordability for our citizens, that stuff’s just unacceptable. So, we listen to that. That’s not sustainable. [That’s] not sustainable for families. That’s not sustainable for the people in that area or, quite frankly, even the PSDs and the utilities as they’re trying to keep rates affordable. It makes it very difficult.”
Governor Morrisey said information gathered during the tour will help shape proposed water legislation for the next regular session of the West Virginia Legislature. State officials say they will continue working with municipalities, public service districts and water operators to improve reliable water service statewide.
Watch the full livestream from Princeton here.