Published: October 14, 2009 10:18 pm      

Utility uses public-private ventures to provide water

CHARLESTON — West Virginia American Water’s venture into public-private pacts is shipping water to isolated pockets that once relied solely on fickle wells, lawmakers learned Wednesday.

A dozen such projects are in the development stage, and a spokesman for the firm told Government Organization Subcommittee C that even more are envisioned.

“We have others in the pipeline,” Sammy Gray, the utility’s director of government affairs, said.

“It’s a constant cycle of having projects with our public-private partners. It’s been very successful. We feel that we provide a unique solution.”

Gray said his company now serves 170,000 customers in an area that extends from Weston to Bluefield, over to Huntington and east to Webster Springs.

On average, a customer’s monthly water bill runs about $40, he said.

Chaired by Delegate Dale Martin, D-Putnam, the committee is studying SCR66 that would call on the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to look at costs of highways, sewers and water projects.

Gray said his firm works with county commissions to extend water lines, and once installed, the service is jointly owned.

“It’s been a great method for us to be able to provide water to folks who haven’t had it before,” he said.

“Most of them had wells which sometimes are unreliable due to the weather, especially in drought times. That’s not a consistent and constant supply of water they can rely on.”

Among ongoing projects are ones in Boone County, near the community of Prenter, and at Spanishburg in Mercer County.

Once the lines are laid and water is running, he said, West Virginia American Water treats the customers as its own, even though the system is jointly owned.

The public-private partnership also allows counties to move into other phases of infrastructure, he said.

“It’s been a good working relationship with counties and we hope to continue that as much as possible,” Gray said.

Normally, the initiative for a new project is assumed at the county government level, he explained.

“Usually, it’s up to the counties to make their own priority list,” Gray said.

“They ask for our help as the private partner to help them with their projects. But they identify those priorities.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com