The Kentucky Public Service Commission made the right call.

On April 8, the PSC denied the Martin County Water District’s request to end state monitoring and close the long-running case that has tracked this county’s water system through years of failure, crisis and costly repair.

That decision may frustrate local officials but it is the correct decision, and more importantly, it is the responsible one.

Martin County has reduced water loss from catastrophic levels, improved some administrative functions and brought more order to a system that once lurched from one emergency to the next. The PSC acknowledged that. But progress is not the same as stability. And stability is not the same as independence.

That is the point the PSC made, and it is the point Martin County must confront honestly.

The district argued that it had moved beyond the “constant state of emergency” described in earlier orders. It pointed to timely audits, training, better reporting, reduced water loss and improved revenue from new meters and operational changes. Those are real gains.

But the commission looked past the talking points and asked the harder question: Can the district sustain those gains on its own?

The answer, based on the record, is no.

The PSC said plainly what many residents already know: most of the progress cited by the district has occurred under Alliance’s management, not under a proven, self-sustaining local operation. In fact, the commission found the district had not shown it could meet its statutory obligations without a third-party manager.

That finding alone should have ended the argument.

Instead, the order goes further.

The district remains financially fragile. Its own filings say current revenue is not enough. A December revenue requirement report estimated that Martin County would need a roughly 37.55% increase in required revenue at present rates to meet its needs. That is not a picture of a system ready to stand on its own. That is a picture of a system still under strain.

Then there is water loss.

The district has pointed to snapshots showing water loss falling from roughly 71% to 45% at times. Those numbers sound encouraging. The PSC, however, did what regulators are supposed to do: it looked at the audited averages, not the best-case moments.

From 2020 through 2024, the audited average unaccounted-for water loss was 69.87%. The district reported 52.08% in 2025. That is better than before, but it is still extraordinarily high and among the worst in Kentucky. And it is still nowhere near the 15% threshold the PSC generally uses in rate cases.

No serious regulator could look at those figures and say, “Mission accomplished.”

No serious community should, either.

After everything Martin County has been through, PSC oversight is a good thing.