In this West Virginia county, “seems like all the water’s bad”

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To get drinking water, Burlyn Cooper and his neighbors have to collect runoff from the rock face of a mountain. It’s contaminated, but it’s all they have.

Researchers found high levels of contaminants in the water from the Coopers' wells. The water leaves behind a thick sludge and a rash across Burlyn's skin."This is absolutely at an individual, community, and nation level a crisis," said George McGraw, founder and CEO of DigDeep.McDowell County is rich with water. Rivers and streams course through dense forests.

Today, many McDowell residents are living through a water crisis, McDowell County Commissioner Cody Estep said. Some towns have been under boil-water advisories for years. Many locals rely on wells, but those are vulnerable to contamination from their surroundings, and can be expensive to fix. An estimated two-thirds of homes lack basic wastewater treatment, and many homeowners pipe waste straight into nearby streams."People are beat down," he said."Our population is aging.

Cash-strapped rural utilities often finance upgrades through a patchwork of state and federal funds, including loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But McDowell is already saddled with debt from such loans, Brewster said, and pays about $34,000 to cover it each month. That means she and her team spend a substantial amount of time applying for grants, so the utility won't have to take on more debt or raise rates.

McDowell needs industry and jobs to grow, but it can't attract economic opportunity without basic infrastructure, like water. To solve its water crisis, he said, the county that once helped power the nation needs federal help. Meanwhile, Americans of color and rural communities have fallen through the cracks, said McGraw, DigDeep's founder. There is little federal data on the demographics of water and sanitation access, but recent research conducted by the nonprofit found that race is the strongest predictor of access, with Black and Latino families twice as likely as white families to lack running water. More than 17 percent of rural Americans report having experienced issues accessing safe drinking water.

She needed that help when, last January, after her 76-year-old sister entered the hospital with Covid-19, the water went out again. Her sister died and the water didn't come back. Without water, Mason couldn't cook for her family or bathe in her bathroom, and she couldn't have relatives stay at her home while they visited to attend her sister's funeral.Elizabeth Mason's pipes are now so unreliable her water can be out for weeks at a time.

 

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They should consider relocation with the held of local authorities, after all health is more important than arrogance

Maybe Joe Manchin and Capito should do something to help instead of blocking infrastructure bill.🤑🤑🤑🙄🙄🙄🙊🙉🙈

Sen_JoeManchin that's your constituents who need infrastructure and need it NOW go ahead make em wait while you decide what's best for you not them gop bs

Le_D3ll Kelantan versi murka

What?

But America is the Greatest country in the World! Apparently.

Wow. Just a single paragraph blurb informing the public it's futile to challenge the fossil fuel industry. smh

Maybe Manchin should actually do things to help people instead of tilting at the windmill that is bipartisanship.

JoeManchinWV seems to be more worried playing a DINO dem in name only!!

And their Senator, Sen_JoeManchin, would rather they continue to suffer than change the filibuster rules to pass an infrastructure bill.

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Far too many First Nations in Canada do not have access to clean drinking water!

'Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads'

Infrastructure bill needed in West Virginia!!!

Get purifier but damn why WV ppl way they are. Drinking that water I won't use that boiled ten x make congress person senate person drink that. I mean make them.

This is America...

apparently they voted for it

they dont drink water over there just moonshine

fracking joemanchin.

The greatest country in the world?

Isn’t that Sen_JoeManchin territory?

Where is Sen_JoeManchin? Will he be representing the interests of the citizens of WV, or the interest of monied friends & families?

How is it she can do that, that’s how she gets drinking water how far off the grid do people have too go And still survive or not able to take care of themselves !!

Sen_JoeManchin this is your state. I believe this area needs infrastructure money.

And they STILL vote Republican. Good riddance.

74% of the country voted Republican.

.....guess he really wants to be a true Republican, after all......

Remember, America, this is the state which Sen. Joe Manchin represents.....

Hey Twitter peeps, I need some help. Anything you can do, even simply retweeting this, will help me and be much appreciated. 👍🏼

4Yourinformati3 So the people of West Virginia don’t really need infrastructure …Sen_JoeManchin PeteButtigieg

Don’t worry - Trumps health care plan is coming

Wow...💔

Keep voting for Republicans

We are all down stream.

Seems like voting for racism is more important than voting for clean water.

That’s horrible

Where is the medicine?

deejay90192 This story is heart breaking and yet, they continue to vote against their own well being.

Hello Sen_JoeManchin !

This is how good Joe Manchin is

Stop pushing that weak bipartisanship line uve been paid to keep saying Sen_JoeManchin when our country is failing on every level. Pass the infrastructure bill, the for the people voting rights bill, And the anti-lynching bill. Do that and honor your oath, to the country!

If only someone was trying to fix this countries infrastructure.

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