The tap water in McDowell county has been described as “orange and sour smelling”, and is not safe to drink or bathe with, causing the people who live there to find new ways to get water. Burlyn Cooper, a resident of McDowell county, collects drinking water every week by gathering runoff water from the mountain. The water is not filtered, and is currently the only source of clean water which the city relies on. Burlyn is just one of many people in McDowell who has found a creative way to collect cleaner water.
Poor water quality is very common in impoverished communities, and affects over 2 million Americans. McDowell county used to be highly populated and thrive off of coal production. A steep economic decline caused a decrease in money available to improve aging infrastructure, creating large problems with the public water. All of the well water is now contaminated and some cities have been under boil advisories for years.
In order for the economy in McDowell to improve, more job opportunities must be created to grow the population. This may be a challenge for McDowell to bring people to the county without basic infrastructure. The PSD has begun replacing water lines which run through a series of small towns, including a project which entails a large grant which will connect about 1,000 homes and businesses to water lines. Although some advances are being made to improve the water, many homeowners will be required to pay to have service lines connected to their homes, which is costly and unaffordable for most residents.
