State Public Service Commission Pushing Alpoca Water Deal

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is just days away from issuing a final order that is expected to bring some folks in Wyoming County closer to clean water. Folks in Alpoca and Bud including Herndon Consolidated School have been on a boil water advisory since September with water running a dark brown at times.

Part of the holdup has been a business deal with the current owners and the Eastern Wyoming County Public Service District.  Public Service Commission orders issued this week are helping to move the sale along.

On Monday the state PSC approved the acquisition sale of  Alpoca Water Works, Inc., to the Eastern Wyoming Public Service District. Alpoca Water Works is a small local company that supplies water to about 170 customers.

The current system is old, and outdated. Still according to PSC documents, the Commission approved the Eastern Wyoming PSD borrowing $250,000 for the purchase and system modifications. 

The latest order indicates that the PSC is trying to push this transition by waiving the usual next step; a 30 day public comment period.

The final order is expected within the next few days but that’s not the end of water woe’s for these small Wyoming County towns.

The Eastern Wyoming PSD is seeking the above mentioned loan from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council. The funding needs to be secured before a project to either repair or replace the existing system can begin to take place.

The order also indicates that this is the second time that “the Commission approved the transfer of all the utility assets of Alpoca to the PSD”. The first approval came in 2009 but never happened due to the rate structure.

This past fall, three years and 9 months later,  Alpoca Water and Eastern Wyoming petitioned the commission to reopen the case.

The deal between the Eastern Wyoming County PSD and Alpoca Water Works is expected to be completed by the end of March.

Logan County PSD does all the operation and maintenance for the Eastern Wyoming PSD. Logan PSD has worked to fix the filter, installed three flush valves, and other things to improve the quality.

The long-term fix is to hook up to Eastern Wyoming PSD which will allow the Bud/Alpoca area access to clean and reliable drinking water.

Logan County PSD does all the Operation and Maintenance for the Eastern Wyoming PSD.