BECKLEY — Recent efforts to protect southern West Virginia’s drinking water start long before it reaches a treatment plant.
On Wednesday, 16 Beckley Water Company employees collected litter and debris along four miles of roadway near the utility’s Glade Creek and Sweeneysburg treatment facilities.
The cleanup marked Source Water Protection Week while launching the company’s new partnership with the West Virginia Adopt-A-Highway program.
In total, cleanup crews filled about 30 large bags with litter and debris.
“You don’t think about it because you’re driving by and you really don’t see trash,” Bradley Harris, a Beckley Water representative, said. “It was just incredible to see how much was actually on the roadway there.”
The cleanup gave residents a visible look at work that usually happens out of sight.
It connected roadside beautification with a larger goal of protecting reservoirs, groundwater and the surrounding watershed that serves thousands of homes and businesses.
“We have a responsibility when it comes to leading in source water protection, and that means protecting the water our communities depend on,” Harris said. “It doesn’t always begin at the treatment plant. It happens before that. It begins at the source.”
The American Water Works Association describes source-water protection as the first barrier in a drinking-water system that also includes treatment, secure distribution and monitoring.
Rainwater moving across lawns, roads and other surfaces can pick up pesticides, fertilizers and other pollutants before carrying them into nearby streams and reservoirs.
Trash and pet waste can also add to those contamination risks.
Water Works guidance lists watershed cleanups, conservation partnerships and other volunteer efforts among the ways utilities can involve communities in source-water protection.
“As the largest water provider here in southern West Virginia, we’re working with our community to get not only the roads and the community cleaned up, but also our watershed,” Maintenance Supervisor Greg Neely said to reporters Wednesday.
Additional data points to the scale of the broader problem.
Beckley officials shared water-quality assessments that identify more than 1.2 million impaired acres of lakes and reservoirs and more than 111,000 impaired miles of rivers and streams nationwide.
“Caring for these resources supports water quality and helps reduce treatment challenges,” Beckley Water officials said. “People can help by keeping waste out of storm drains, disposing of medicines and household products properly, using water efficiently, and reporting spills or illegal dumping.”
What happened along the roadside Wednesday demonstrated a larger effort to protect the land and water that feed the region’s drinking-water system.
Source Water Protection Week continues through Saturday.
Residents can learn more about source-water protection and ways to help protect drinking-water supplies through the American Water Works Association.
Beckley Water Company is located at 119 S. Heber St. in Beckley and can be reached at 304-255-5121.
Reach Riley McCoy at 304-254-2080 or email at rmccoy@register-herald.com.
