By Stephen Smoot
The Town of Wardensville received a lump of proverbial coal in their stocking for Christmas Eve as it received a communication from the State of West Virginia placing water customers on a permanent boil water notice.
A Facebook post from the Town stated that it occurred because “we did not get our new treatment plant operational within 18 months of receiving a GWUDI (Groundwater Under Direct Influence) determination.”
“This notice will be in effect,” it went on to state “until we get the new system online and have a back-up well in place. A Call Fire notice has gone out to our customers.”
In essence, the permanent boil water notice issues a clear warning that the consumer must assume that the water running to the residence or business has unsafe contaminants in it.
The West Virginia Department of Health defines “Ground water under direct influence” as occurring because “a portion of the groundwater sources recharge is from surface water.” Therefore, “the groundwater source is considered at risk from surface contaminants which are not normally found in true groundwater,” but do appear on surface sources.
A United States Geological Survey report from two decades ago may have served as an early canary in the coal mine. Its report, gathered between Oct 2003 and May 2004, states that “local flow systems receive recharge mostly through the regolith on the tops or flanks of ridges. The water then either moves into the underlying bedrock or stays within the regolith and flows downgradient toward the intervening valleys and discharges to streams or springs.
Important for the current issue, “Surface water that is channeled into small streams in the valleys can leak downward through the streambed to recharge the aquifer if the water table of the aquifer is lower than the water level in the stream.”
While surface water generally percolates through the ground to reach underground sources, that which runs through the purifying ability of ground sediments will generally emerge safe for human consumption.
The West Virginia Department of Health categorizes the level of concern into three groups. Group One reflects the lowest risk, two a moderate level, and three “high risk for surface water influence.” Its website states that “each group has different evaluation methodologies.”
“If water quality tests,” states the Department of Health, “are positive for indicators of surface water, such as the presence of coliform or changes in temperature, then the source will be classified as GWDUI and the public water system will be notified.” After the official notification, the systems must come into compliance with legal requirements within 18 months or face a state issued permanent boil water warning, which is what happened.
In November, citizens took concerns to the Town of Wardensville Council meeting. Some residents reported discoloration and an unwillingness among some to use for cooking or consumption.
Town officials have worked to improve the water and sewer systems in recent years on a number of fronts. In the November meeting, they explained the process by which the Town acquired funding assistance through loans and also the matches required from the Town itself.
That included $1 million from the State of West Virginia’s Infrastructure Jobs and Development Council for fiscal year 2025 covering “Acquisition and construction of improvements to the wastewater treatment plant, upgrades at two lift stations inflow and infiltration study of the collection system, installation of a SCADA system, and all necessary appurtenances thereto.”
