WELLSBURG - The Brooke County Commission on Tuesday received a request for public water service from a resident of state Route 67.
Mary Lou Fonner said her home is among several on state Route 67 between Wellsburg and Bethany that are without public water lines, though they aren't far from existing water treatment systems.
"We're within a mile of having water on all sides of us," she said of the home near Ghost Hollow where she and her husband have lived for 45 years.
"We knew when we lived here that we didn't have city water, but we thought, as things progressed, we would," she said.
Fonner said the well serving her home came close to running dry during the recent dry summer, and the water contains iron, rust and other materials that have required them to invest thousands of dollars in filter systems over the years.
She said while they have used the water for bathing and laundry, they never drink anything but bottled water at home.
In recent years, other residents of Route 67 have requested public water service, some complaining their water has been contaminated by the e coli virus.
Commission President Marty Bartz said efforts have been made to extend public water to the area and an engineering study was done, but the area's terrain and the cost to extend service to it were barriers.
The commission referred the request to the Hammond Public Service District, which serves that area, but Bartz agreed with Fonner that the Ohio County Public Service District, which serves the town of Bethany, also might be able to help.
He said the project isn't likely to be feasible without the support of grant money.
In other business, the commission:
Was presented, by state Sen. Jack Yost, D-Wellsburg, confirmation of a $10,000 grant for equipment and maintenance of the Brooke County Animal Shelter. Yost said also involved in securing the grant were state Sen. Orphy Klempa, D-Wheeling, and Brooke County Commissioner Tim Ennis, when he was serving as a state delegate last year.
Heard from Dan Greathouse, executive director of the Top of West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau, who said the bureau's board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Weirton Event Center to discuss various issues, including the possibility of establishing a similar amphitheater in Brooke County.
Opened this summer at the former site of Cove School, across from the Weirton Municipal Plaza, the center has hosted a series of free concerts and a weekly farmers' market.
Heard from Steve Rawlings of the West Virginia Counties Risk Pool, a consortium through which 38 West Virginia counties fund and operate their own property and casualty insurance and workers' compensation programs.
Rawlings said the program isn't always the most competitive, but its rates and coverage are consistent, and about $2 million in excess funds have been returned to the member counties.
