CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Three supper Kanawha Valley water districts, including one that serves the state’s maximum-security prison, were found by state regulators to be seriously impaired in their ability to provide water service to customers.
The Public Service Commission of West Virginia directed West Virginia-American Water Company to acquire the operations of Armstrong Public Service District, saying it was a failed utility. In other rulings, the PSC stopped short of ordering a takeover of Gauley River Public Service District and Kanawha Falls Public Service District, but found both to be distressed utilities as defined under the 2020 Distressed and Failing Utilities Improvement Act.
The PSC ordered West Virginia-Water, which serves 167,000 customers in 19 counties, to enter into agreements with the latter two districts to provide financial, managerial and technical support to them. The management contracts must be filed for PSC review within 30 days.
Armstrong, based in Kimberly, Fayette County, provides water to 879 customers and sewer to 822 in the Montgomery area of Fayette County. Gauley River PSD, headquartered in Swiss, Nicholas County, serves 1,200 customers and 1,000 inmates at Mount Olive Correctional Complex. It purchases its water from Kanawha Falls PSD and Summersville. Kanawha Falls PSD, based in Gauley Bridge, has 994 customers, according to its 2022 annual report.
The failure of Gauley River to provide proper water service to the state’s maximum-security prison at Mount Olive, Fayette County, sparked the investigation into the system on May 16, 2022, when the PSD staff questioned the district’s viability under the act.
“These are among the most important cases reviewed by the Commission,” PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane said. “Nothing can be more important to state residents than their ability to obtain safe and clean drinking water.”
More information on this case can be found on the PSC website: www.psc.state.wv.us. Click on “Case Information” and access Case Nos. 22-0456-PWD-DU, 22-0631-PWD-DU, 22-0911-PWD-DU.