Tag: water

Trout Stocking to Commence in West Virginia for 2015

Starting this month, hatchery workers will begin stocking trout to 55 West Virginia waters.

The state Division of Natural Resources says trout hatcheries are located in the state’s highest mountains, where weather conditions often are much more severe than they are at lower elevations.

Winter weather conditions could slow the distribution of trout, which weigh in at 40,000 pounds.

Tom Oldham is a biologist with DNR’s cold-water fisheries arm.

He says any stockings that get missed because of weather will be made up before the end of the stocking season.

Most of the stockings will begin Monday.

W.Va. Regulators: Release More Chemical Spill Response Info

State utility regulators are telling a regional water company to make more information public about how it responded to a January chemical spill.

In an order Tuesday, the Public Service Commission told West Virginia American Water that it redacted its filings too heavily.

The commission is investigating whether the water company reacted appropriately to a Jan. 9 spill, which spurred a tap-water ban for 300,000 people for days.

Previously, the commission warned the water company to “use a light hand in redacting its documents.” Tuesday’s order says that before producing records recently, the company even redacted publicly available information, like names of elected officials, corporate officers and the commission’s 1-800 phone number.

The commission is ordering more lightly redacted versions of some records by Jan. 16.

W.Va. Officials: Water Regulations Hard to Enforce

West Virginia environmental officials say the state lacks a strong program to deter falsification of coal company water samples.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Department of Environmental Protection officials made that observation Thursday at a regulatory board hearing. The state Environmental Quality Board did not rule on an appeal by Appalachian Laboratories Inc., which lost its Clean Water Act certification after an employee pleaded guilty to falsifying water quality samples.

DEP laboratory auditor Tommy Smith said the agency doesn’t conduct field inspections to determine if water quality samplers are acting appropriately, which makes the sort of misconduct that took place in the Appalachian case hard to detect.

Scott Mandirola, director of DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management, acknowledged that regulations should be modified.

Public Utilities Say Too Much Regulation From State

A study paid for by local public water systems says the state public service commission over-regulates the utilities and is preventing them from providing better service to their customers.

The study was paid for by the West Virginia Rural Water Association, Municipal Water Quality Association, the West Virginia section of American Water Works Association and the West Virginia Water Environment Association.

Some of those groups also lobbied the legislature to weaken some provisions in Senate Bill 373 which created an above ground storage tank inspection program and also provided for more regulations of public water systems following January’s chemical spill in Charleston.

Members of the associations presented the study’s findings to a joint Judiciary subcommittee Tuesday which found West Virginia regulates public service utilities more than any other state.

Bob Rodecker, a Charleston attorney commissioned to conduct the 50 state survey, said the state regulates rates, construction, contracts, mergers and consolidations.

Comparatively, six or seven other states across the country regulate those same things, depending on which regulatory power you consider.

“The current regulatory environment is not in the best interest of our citizens,” said Tim Ball, manager of the Morgantown Utility Board, “and the centralized control of public utilities is a poor, obsolete and limiting regulatory model.”

Testimony before the committee suggested allowing more control at the local level for construction projects, rate adjustments and the ability to maintain a larger surplus in case of an emergency.

“Frankly, what you heard today is they want rate increases,” said Richard Hitt, general counsel with the West Virginia Public Service Commission.

He said if the West Virginia Public Service Commission stopped regulating rates, most public service customers across the state would see an increase in cost.

Hitt also said there have only been four emergency requests for funding in the past three years, but if the utilities were allowed to keep larger surpluses than what they do currently, there would have to be some regulation of what classified as a true emergency.

Lincoln Co. Awarded Federal Clean Water Grant

Lincoln County has been awarded more than a million dollars by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to extend clean water services in the county.

The rural development grant completes a multi-million dollar financial package for the Lincoln County project.

Congressman Nick Rahall’s office announced the funding yesterday and says the project will serve an additional 81 families in the Lower Mud River area.

USDA Funds Sent to Logan PSD

Residents served by the Logan County Public Service District are expected to see improvements to water systems. Funds announced Wednesday are expected to help improve the water quality and quantity for areas in two counties.

According to a release, the United States Department of Agriculture has announced approval for more than $3.2 million dollars for projects in Logan and Lincoln Counties. The release says the loan will amount to over $2-million while about $1-million will come from a grant. The federal dollars come from the Rural Development Funds to help complete the Big Harts Phase II extension upgrades.

The funds are meant to help more than 150 households that have water with health or sanitary risks in Big Harts Creek, Smokehouse Fork, White Oak Branch and surrounding areas. . The money is to be given to the Logan Public Service District  which monitors water services in areas of Logan, Lincoln and Wyoming Counties.

The release goes onto say that residents in the area have water that contains iron, corroded pipes and fixtures, and a strong sulfur odor and taste. Bacterial contamination is also a concern due to the number of unapproved sewage disposal systems in the area. Also, wells in the area are known to get low or go dry during certain times of the year.

No word on the expected completion dates for these projects or if the PSD intends on raising rates to repay the loan.

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