MARTIN COUNTY, Ky. — The water problems in Martin County have been plaguing its residents for almost 25 years.
The county is nearly three hours east of Lexington and is home to around 11,000 people. With a per capita income of under $15,000 per year, the rural coal mining community is one of the poorest regions in the state. However, Martin County residents have the second-highest water bill, according to the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center’s state-wide water affordability study.
One of the biggest barriers to clean, reliable water has been problems with the water pumps.
Nina McCoy has been an outspoken advocate for Martin County’s water issues since 2000. McCoy is chair of Martin County Concerned Citizens, which was formed to build transparency and give county residents a voice. She is also on the county’s water board.
“We had a major man-made environmental disaster,” said McCoy. “The 2000 slurry spill… I really was concerned about how that affected our drinking water supply.”
About 250 million gallons of coal mine fine refuse slurry were released, with a lot of the slurry getting into the Big Sandy River, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is part of Martin County’s extensive history of water problems.
One factor that has contributed to the county’s issues has been its raw water intake, which involves the water pump at Tug Fork River.
“From 2002 until 2024, we’ve had problems with raw water intake,” said McCoy.
In 2017, almost $500,000 from a grant given to the Martin County Water District went to raw water intake, which included two new electric water pumps. However, there have been roadblocks with being able to use these pumps.
“The whole design of how they’re pulling water from the river is a travesty,” said Craig Miller, the division manager for Alliance Water Resources. “It should never have happened and it should never have been allowed.”
Alliance Water Resources is an outside management company that was brought in about four years ago to deal with Martin County’s water issues.
A project to fix several issues within different areas of the water system began in 2020. One part of that project was to install a cart on a ramp to lift and lower the electric pump at the river. The cart is needed to lift the pump when the water rises. This project is still unfinished.
A rented diesel pump is currently being used because of the issues with the project.
“The only thing I could do was find a pump that would actually work with the suction lift that I had and pump as much water into the reservoir as I could, no matter what it costs, and that’s what we’ve done and we’ve been successful at it,” said Miller. “Now we have plenty of water in the reservoir.”
It cost nearly $11,000 to rent the pump in January. In November and December 2023, it cost $45,000 each month for diesel. The Martin County Water District is paying for this, which leaves less money to go towards fixing other problems.
McCoy wants to see the raw water intake project be completed and done right.
She hopes that the state will provide the county with money to deal with water loss. Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., has $12 million allotted to Martin County’s water issues in his proposed budget.
“I’m supportive of the $12 million and I’m actually supportive of more than that ‘cause I think we need more than $12 million to fix the needs of Martin County so that’s why we’ve got this pool in House Bill 1 for distressed areas,” said State Rep. Bobby McCool, R-Van Lear. “It’s $150 million in there, so why hold back just 12? Let’s see how much we can get.”
Miller says that while there are still several issues, there has been a lot of success along the way and efforts are still being made to fix the lingering problems.