By: Lydia Crawley

Parsons’ lawyer

On Tuesday, August 13, Thomas City Hall was standing room onlyth. Members of the public, City Council and representatives from state, local, city and county governments met to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing water crisis in the city. Among those in attendance were State Senator Randy Smith, Tucker County County Commissioners and Kevin White, director of the Tucker County Emergency Management Office.

Since late June, the city has been battling excess iron in drinking water, which has caused discoloration, odor and community concerns about the water’s safety. Flanagan said the water is safe to drink and there are no health concerns about the excess iron. Flanagan also called it an “aesthetic issue” as he read from a prepared statement.

Flanagan said the water is safe to drink and the high iron content does not pose a health risk in any way. Flanagan also said the city is providing both drinking water and domestic water to residents at the city’s expense to address any community concerns about the water. The city is also working with Davis-Thomas Elementary Middle School to provide water to returning students and staff, according to Flanagan. “We are getting ready to work on that this week,” Flanagan said.

There is currently no timeline for when normal water supply to the town of Thomas will resume. Town officials have said it depends on rainfall and time. “When it comes to iron, it’s difficult to give a timeline,” Flanagan said. “So until we get – I’ll call it the tipping of the reservoir – enough fresh water and other things into the reservoir to bring the iron levels back down, it’s difficult to give a timeline.”

In response to the social media campaign, Flanagan said the state has provided residents with domestic water that they can use for cleaning and for purposes other than drinking. Domestic water is water that is not approved for drinking but is safe to use for other purposes, such as cleaning or flushing toilets. “The state has seen all the stuff you put out on social media about the aesthetics and stuff like that,” Flanagan said. “That’s what domestic water is for. In case you don’t want to flush your toilet with tap water because it stains or ruins it. You have the option to go there and get 4,000 gallons of domestic water that you can use however you want.”

Drinking water is water that is safe for human consumption. During the meeting, the director of the Tucker County Emergency Management Agency explained the difference between the drinking water tank under the supervision of the city and the tanker truck for non-potable water. “All tanks that hold drinking water have to be certified by the health department,” White said. “So they have to be sanitized, they have to go through a process and then once the tank is certified, it’s potable as long as it uses water from a certified system. The reason the tank on the state road is not certified is because they could get the water from the river or wherever to use it. However, the water that sits at the bottom is certified and is used as drinking water. That water is safe. The reason it’s locked at the bottom and only open at certain times is because they can monitor that no one is tampering with it. This one is not potable because it’s free-standing and anyone can theoretically do anything with that water.”

During the meeting, city officials discussed the issues surrounding the water crisis. According to the city, the pumps can only run for about 15 minutes before the system needs to be backwashed due to iron buildup in the system. Both the DEP and the health department were notified of the situation from the beginning and are investigating the cause. According to the city, extreme drought is the preliminary cause of the high iron levels in the water. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Tucker County was classified as having a D3 extreme drought last week.

Flanagan said the city is working on future plans for a new water treatment plant and a settling pond for the water treatment plant to deal with high iron levels in the future. “We’ve been talking to Abandoned Mine Lands, the DEP and the health department about building a temporary settling pond at our plant, which our plant doesn’t have, to deal with high iron levels. So we’re hoping we can get the funding for that and put it in so that this problem doesn’t happen in the future.”

According to Flanagan, the city has paid for all the water that was delivered and distributed to Thomas citizens. Flanagan and White said that while the state has declared a state of emergency because of the drought, there are no state funds to assist Thomas with the additional costs of the crisis. White said the drought also does not qualify for FEMA funding or assistance, and that while a relief fund exists in West Virginia, no money has ever been deposited into it. “The state passed a fund for emergencies many years ago that does not correspond to any FEMA declaration,” White said. “This one does not correspond to any FEMA declaration, but the problem is that not a single cent has ever been deposited into that fund. So the fund exists, but its balance is zero.”

According to Flanagan, the iron levels in the water fluctuate daily. The level coming out of the plant to citizens is 0.03, while on some days it is 0.10 to 0.12 from the intakes. “I believe that the city council, the past and current city council, have worked diligently throughout this water crisis to give the citizens of Thomas clean water, drinking water and domestic water,” Flanagan said. “There is not much to do if the water just has high iron levels. Nothing changes. The iron levels fluctuate every day. It fluctuates every day.”

When asked by a listener why the community should continue to pay its water bills if the water is no longer safe to drink, Flanagan said there is a lot of misinformation being spread on social media about the water situation. “There’s a lot of Facebook stuff on social media that isn’t true,” Flanagan said. “EWG, that’s a lobbying organization. That’s not the right information that’s being spread everywhere. It’s not coming from the EPA, it’s not coming on an EPA website.”

Flanagan further acknowledged that the city has had water code violations in the past. “We have committed violations, but we have never been penalized,” Flanagan said. “Some of the violations listed on the DEP website are mostly clerical errors. You didn’t find what you wanted on the DEP website, so you pulled this up and cited a lobbying group.”

Flanagan said the city’s water is tested every two weeks and submitted to the state. “The water is tested every two weeks,” Flanagan said. “It’s submitted to the state. If we had nine or 10 violations, there would be a padlock on the door out there. They won’t let you get away with a violation and they’ll let you get away with anything.”

Below is a transcript of the prepared statement read by Mayor Flanagan at the meeting.

“The Thomas City Council would like to acknowledge the challenges of the last month due to our city’s drought-caused water crisis,” said Flanagan. “It has been a hardship for everyone who lives and does business here. Our homes and businesses, our appliances, our patience – everyone has suffered. This has been a West Virginia-led emergency and disaster response process. Every update/protocol received from the state has been relayed to residents and business owners. Unfortunately, there were not many to relay. That the water was an aesthetic issue alone was an update the City received from the West Virginia DHHR and relayed to Thomas residents. The City received a tanker truck of non-potable water as a donation from the WVDOH to assist citizens concerned about this aesthetic issue. This was an update received and relayed from Governor Justice’s office and the DOH. City staff will continue to do everything they can at our water treatment plant and keep the community updated accordingly. We will forward any information about state aid if and when it becomes available for struggling businesses. In the meantime, until it rains in the state, please be nice to our city clerk. Her frustration is real. She is not at fault here. Also, the city council has been working on a website. We are stuck with the domain transfer and that has stalled our efforts. If you would like, please direct your thoughts to the offices of your state representatives. They are paying attention and only they have the power to get the funds here.”