Kerr calls it ’a major homerun’
BY GARY BALL
CITIZEN EDITOR
MARTIN COUNTY — Nationally known consumer advocate Erin Brockovich is getting involved “knee-deep” to make Martin County Water’s “terrible situation better. Brockovich announced yesterday on Facebook that she and her top water expert Bob Bowcock are getting together a team of experts to pitch in.
“Let’s strike while the iron is hot,” Brockovich said.
Brockovich has already struck. Martin County Water Board Member Jimmy Don Kerr announced in a public meeting yesterday that he spent over an hour on the phone Monday with Bowcock, who Brockovich refers to as her “water guy.”
“We’ve hit a major, major homerun,” Kerr told other board members.
Brockovich was interviewed Monday night by “Hey Kentucky” host Matt Jones on WLEX, Lexington. Brockovich said she has been aware of water problems in Martin County for some time.
“People in and around Martin County have been sending me dirty water photos, information about what’s going on, boil water notices, and here we are today,” Brockovich told Jones.
Jones told Brockovich that he’s been asked a thousand times, “What can we do to help?” He asked Brockovich to answer that question.
“You’re actually doing it,” Brockovich said. “You’re reporting on this and bringing greater awareness. The people are doing it and this is exactly what we encourage them to do.”
Brockovich said people should attend water board meetings and other meetings of organizations that exercise oversight of the water district to express our concerns and complaints.
“Oftentimes, we don’t attend these meetings until there’s a problem,” she said. “But there’s a platform for the consumer, the people, to go to. And they’re doing it. They’re showing up. They’re speaking out. They’re putting pressure on the people the pressure should be on.”
Brockovich said this is not a situation that just showed up yesterday.
“They’ve had long-term problems with this water company that they haven’t been addressing for a very long time,” she said.
Brockovich told Jones that she is sending Bowcock to Martin County to do a feasibility study.
“I’ve worked with Bob for a long time and he is amazing,” she noted. “He knows about the bacteria … what they’re adding or not adding, things they should be doing, what they can do to be cost-effective … Oftentimes municipalities don’t want to ask for help … I don’t know if it’s an ego thing or a political thing, but there’s help out there and room for them to learn.”
Bowcock is what is known as a “level V” operator.
“I don’t know that, across the U.S., if we have these experienced operators at hand to understand what’s going on when their trihalomethanes are exceeded when their infrastructure is failing, and the complexities of the chemical they’re using and what they can do to create a water disaster or to avert one.”
MCWD Board Member Jimmy Kerr said Bowcock has already made the offer to come to Martin County to help address issues. Kerr is excited about the prospect of having someone with Bowcock’s experience and expertise coming to assist.
Kerr said Bowcock’s services meant he would do an evaluation of what is needed, how much it would cost and then help the district to secure funding at the federal level.
“They will take those things to the top 10 engineering firms in the country,” Kerr said. “One company is the best in hydraulics, one is the best in water flow. They will take all those companies, put all that information together, and basically give us a check sheet of how to fix our system, exactly what to do.”
Kerr said Bowcock told him they would figure out how much money is needed to fix the system.
“His exact words to me were, ‘If we figure out that we need $10 million, then we’re going to Washington and get $10 million,’” Kerr added.
Kerr said he was “pretty excited” when he got off the phone with Bowcock.
“There will be no charge to us — free,” he said. “It’s kind of like a million dollar project to us for nothing.”
Kerr said he would let everyone know when details are worked out.
“I’m sure he would like as much input from the community as possible,” said Kerr. “I think we need input from everyone.”
Kerr said that through “Hey Kentucky” he’s been talking about getting Bowcock here.
“Ms. Brockovich does about four water districts a year,” he said. “And we happened to make the list this year.”