Cover: Drinking Water
Contamination in the Coalfields By Krissy Kasserman, Youghiogheny Riverkeeper
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most contentious battles in the coalfields and, in fact, anywhere have been fought over water. Is the entitlement to a potable water supply one that should be regarded as a basic human right? This is the source of much debate worldwide — one that while we discuss and ponder, more than 2.5 billion people are living with no regular access to potable water for drinking, bathing and cooking. Is it surprising then that some of these people live here in the United States, where the majority is fortunate enough to turn on the tap and be rewarded with clean water? Ask any mother who has spent a night or two without potable water whether she thinks water is a basic human right. Ask the owner of a small dairy farm who has to haul enough water for 100 head of cattle or the elderly person who either can’t afford to haul water or who can’t physically do so. These scenes play out every day in coalfield regions across the country as water supplies are destroyed or lost due to mining activity. In rural southwestern Pennsylvania, coal remains king — a king that has little regard for his subjects. The coal industry recently embarked on a million-dollar advertising campaign in order to convince us that coal is now “clean and green.” Don’t be fooled. America’s addiction to coal is causing the widespread destruction of drinking water supplies across the coalfields. Nothing about this destruction is clean or green. The Mountain Watershed Association (MWA), home of the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper, is located in rural Fayette County, Pa., where a very extensive public water system exists but many rural areas are still not served. Residents in these areas rely on private water supplies, specifically springs and wells that are frequently lost due to active coal mining. In addition, countless others suffer ongoing contamination from abandoned coalmines. Private water supplies are incredibly vulnerable as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection grants them very few protections and private water supply owners frequently wrestle with mining companies over water loss or degradation and replacement water. The question remains: Can a public water system ever really “replace” the pristine springs and wells that once supplied many families? The PA DEP believes so, but in this area the public water is also made up of the very same groundwater that is being systematically depleted by the
Waterkeeper Magazine Summer 2008
Tap water from local springs and wells that had been contaminated by mining.
www.waterkeeper.org
