By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “Unacceptable.”
The staff of the West Virginia Public Service Commission used that word five times in an 18-page memorandum issued Jan. 4 to describe water utility oversight of fire hydrants throughout the state.
The PSC staff found widespread failure of water utilities to look after nearly 50,000 fire hydrants across West Virginia.
“Unfortunately, many utilities across our State do not inspect, test and maintain their hydrants regularly and in conformance with established standards,” PSC staff said in its memorandum.
So PSC staff members proposed launching a $70 million grant program for statewide hydrant replacements. The program would be specifically for nonprofit water utilities, the staff said, saying the burden of replacing aging hydrants would be especially cumbersome for nonprofit utilities, given their small customer bases and limited access to capital for investment.
But a Gazette-Mail analysis of data reported to the PSC found West Virginia’s largest water utilities own the highest percentage of aging hydrants. Of more than 19,000 hydrants owned by the 10 water utilities with the largest customer bases per 2022 PSC annual report statistics, 14% had hydrants 50 years or older. The PSC staff has determined that hydrants older than 50 years should be replaced.
The PSC noted in its memo that percentage was 11% across all utilities statewide.
Twelve percent of the hydrants operated by West Virginia American Water, the state’s largest investor-owned water utility, are older than 50 years.