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Stories about cryptids are revived every October in the lead-up to Halloween. Oftentimes, these monsters are said to live in the woods – or some other dark area where they’re difficult to find. Few, if any, can be found leaping along rooftops in one of the country's largest historic preservation districts. For the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, LPM’s Roberto Roldan brings us the story of the Old Louisville Demon Leaper.
Home » WVPB Podcasts » Stirring the Waters Inside Appalachia: How Drinking Water Systems Are Failing Rural Residents
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Stirring the Waters Inside Appalachia: How Drinking Water Systems Are Failing Rural Residents
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For many families in parts of eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, the absence of clean, reliable drinking water has become part of daily life.
This week on Inside Appalachia we’ll hear from folks like Blaine Taylor, a 17-year-old resident of Martin County, Kentucky, who struggles to manage basic hygiene when his water comes out with sendiment in it.
“I had to use a case of water last night just to get enough water in my bathtub just to get myself cleaned up for today at school,” he said. “It’s rough.”
Credit Jessica Lilly, WVPB
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In 2015, Inside Appalachia reported that water districts in central Appalachia struggle to perform routine maintenance, which leads to quality and reliability problems for customers. Sometimes, districts are understaffed and underfunded. The repairs they do make are often inadequate -- and fail to address the long-term problems of water loss and crumbling service lines.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporter Molly Born, Caity Coyne, from the Charleston Gazette-Mail, and Will Wright, from the Lexington Herald-Leader, spent part of 2018 looking into this issue for a project called Stirring the Waters. They were working through the Report for America initiative, a national service program made possible in rural Appalachia with support from the Galloway Family Foundation.
They discovered West Virginia would need $17 billion to connect hundreds of systems across the state to centralized utility services — both water and sewer. That’s according to the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council. The council is responsible for approving and overseeing infrastructure projects in the state. That’s more than the entire 2018 state budget. By the end of 2017, only $8.5 million dollars were secured for the projects — just more than 1 percent of the necessary funds.
Credit Jessica Lilly, WVPB
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Jared Brewster stands outside of a dated water system in McDowell County.
We’ll also follow a group of graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania, who recently toured water plants in McDowell County hoping to help find a solution to the problem.
Read more stories and learn more about the Stirring the Waters project here.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting will be working with the Report for America Project again in 2019. We’re taking applications for a reporter based in Charleston, West Virginia, who will cover the southern part of the state, including state government. The deadline to apply is Feb. 8, 2019.
A special thanks to Report for America corps members Caity Coyne and Will Wright, and former corps member Molly Born, as well as the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Lexington Herald-Leader and GroundTruth staff members who made the Stirring the Waters project possible.
Our host is Jessica Lilly. Molly Born guest-produced the show this week, with help from associate producer Eric Douglas. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. He also edited the show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
Stories about cryptids are revived every October in the lead-up to Halloween. Oftentimes, these monsters are said to live in the woods – or some other dark area where they’re difficult to find. Few, if any, can be found leaping along rooftops in one of the country's largest historic preservation districts. For the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, LPM’s Roberto Roldan brings us the story of the Old Louisville Demon Leaper.
On this West Virginia Week, our voter's guide is out, and it has all the information you need to know about the upcoming general election in the state. Also, another lawsuit targets the state's public school funding formula. And, a million dollar giant troll is making its way to the woods of West Virginia.
This week, author Silas House returns with a sweeping new novel. Also, some folks say, you have to fake it 'til you make it, even if you're trying to establish a state park. And, the story of the first Mothman sightings as written by a small town journalist in 1966.
Silas House is a major voice for Appalachia. The Kentucky native has written more than 15 books and served as the state's poet laureate. His latest book is The Tulip Poplars, a sweeping novel about the lives of four people as they navigate friendship and forbidden love throughout the 20th century. Inside Appalachia's Mason Adams spoke with House.
