Sens. Manchin & Capito & U.S. Rep. McKinley ask EPA to step in immediately to help Clarksburg WV with water issue

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito and U.S. Rep. David McKinley have written the administrator of the U.S. EPA seeking immediate help for Clarksburg in dealing with elevated levels of lead in drinking water.

The letter expresses the federal lawmakers’ concerns about the “elevated levels of lead in drinking water in certain homes” in Clarksburg.

“We write to request immediate assistance” from the EPA, the lawmakers continued, “in providing support for residents served by the Clarksburg Water System” while the system works to comply with emergency missives issued for it by the EPA and the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

The lawmakers are asking the EPA to invoke a part of the Safe Drinking Water Act that will allow the agency to provide grants to the water system. “If authorities under this section have not been invoked, then what authority has EPA used to provide assistance?” the letter asks.

Additionally, Capito, Manchin and McKinley want the EPA to collaborate with state officials, including the DHHR, and the Clarksburg Water Board. That would include efforts “to coordinate sampling activities as well as provide general sampling assistance,” the lawmakers wrote. “If EPA is not presently working with the State and the System to provide sampling assistance, then how will EPA take action to provide support?” the letter asks.

The EPA also should provide bottled water and “point-of-use” filters to residents impacted by potential lead problems, the letter contends. “If EPA has not assisted in obtaining bottled water and point-of-use filters for impacted residents, then what help has EPA provided thus far?” the letter asks.

“The Clarksburg Water System serves approximately 18,000 residents via 8,500 service connections. Additionally, the System serves as a water supply for a number of other public water systems in the area, which service an additional 38,000 people,” the letter said. “The requests and questions highlighted above will go a long way toward assuring Clarksburg’s residents that their drinking water is safe. We look forward to working with you to resolve this matter quickly.”

The letter comes a day after Clarksburg Water Board President Al Cox told the Harrison County Board of Health that the system had been told to start adding orthophosphate to water. Cox said he wanted the EPA to send in an expert or experts to oversee that process if that’s what the agency wants.

Additionally, Cox and Water Board General Manager Jason Meyers said it was “disingenuous” of regulators to act like the Water Board had been dragging its heels over the potential lead contamination.

Though blood levels of one child were found with elevated lead levels last September, another in January and a third in April, the Water Board didn’t get notification until May, they said.

The Water Board has been working to identify potential areas where its pipes might be lead. But that’s been a slow process involving combing through old, boxed-up invoices dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, according to Cox and Meyers.

The Water Board also may end up having to repair homeowners’ plumbing where lead is leaking, Meyers said, citing regulator guidance they’ve received at one residence.

Swapping out old lines could result in higher water rates depending on how widespread the problem is, Meyers said. That’s because the Water Board likely would have to borrow money to match grant funding needed to replace lines, he said.

The children who had elevated blood levels hadn’t sustained enough contamination to require chelation therapy, local Health Department medical officer Dr. Nancy Joseph said.

The Harrison County Board of Health also voted unanimously this week to offer the Water Board its expertise, to include the potential use of experts who could learn how to help take water samples.

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