By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Diane Farmer’s water has become a rusty color in recent years after strip mine operations took hold across the road from her home around 2019. She and her disabled husband buy bottled gallons of water to cook, finding their filtering system doesn’t do the job anymore.
Farmer, 73, of Leckie, McDowell County, is supposed to drink at least a gallon daily due to kidney issues, but just getting the water into their home has become a chore.
“It’s becoming a hassle,” Farmer said during a Feb. 6 water quality-focused briefing hosted by ReImagine Appalachia, a regional coalition of economic and environmental leaders. “The only thing we want to do is to be able to have clean water, to be able to go in and start a load of laundry anytime you need to, instead of having to look at the quality of the water that’s coming out through the faucet at that time.”
During the briefing, the Rev. Brad Davis, an elder in the United Methodist Church serving five churches throughout McDowell County, held up a bottle of water he said came out of her tap that day. It was dark yellow, with sediment at the bottom.
