Water woes simply a fabrication or ‘fake news’
Former Martin County Water Board Chairman John Horn has cited a recent survey of water quality samples taken as vindication that what he had claimed many times during his short tenure — that our water met all EPA standards by the Kentucky Division of Water and that anyone who disagreed with his assessment, including this writer and Kentucky Public Service Commission Chairman Mike Schmitt, were against Martin County and its water customers.
Horn did what could be described as “spiking the football and doing a victory lap” in his assertion that there was nothing wrong with our water quality and that all who disagreed were trouble-makers and alarmists scaring the public.
The problem with his assertion today is that years ago, a water board chairman could make this claim.
However, with social media today and overwhelming proof of what customers were forced to endure (mind you, at the very time he claimed our water was safe), videos taken on cell phones showing multiple cases of brown, orange water belching from bathroom and kitchen sinks, or still photos of bathtubs filled with brown water caught up and stored shortly before scheduled water outages (remember those?) show otherwise.
Bear in mind that when all of this was going on the Division of Water was aware and did nothing.
The DOW did determine that our water district was out of compliance for three years (12 quarters) in regard to disinfectant byproducts. This required the water district to issue warnings telling consumers to “seek advice from your healthcare provider before consuming the water.”
Those are indisputable facts — required warnings on bills … videos … photos.
No, according to Horn, this was a fabricated effort by the newspaper editor, members of the Water Warriors Facebook group, and even PSC Chairman Mike Schmitt himself who obviously had an ax to grind since he lost his tenure as attorney for the Martin County Board of Education!
That last part is laughable. Schmitt’s firm still advises the local BOE on matters. And you can rely on the fact that associates of his firm routinely consult him on matters dealing with education law.
In our opinion, Schmitt has seen what customers here have dealt with over the years and wants the problem resolved permanently — no more issuance of PSC Orders dating back 10 years with no evidence of compliance.
So to Mr. Horn, you can take your victory lap and spike the ball in victory.
But everyone — even those who agree with you in an attempt to assuage your ego — knows deep down that our water is not fit to drink.