BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Four days after Gov. Andy Beshear stood in Inez sharing a story about hooking up water to 12 homes in Hopkins County and hundreds in other counties, the Martin County Water Board shot down hope for Spicy Mountain residents wanting a connection to the county’s public water system.

Tammy Lewis and other Spicy Mountain/Trace Ridge residents, whose only service – a primitive kiosk-and-cistern system – has been broken since mid-January, attended the water board meeting March 22. Lewis asked if the water district had applied for any of the $49 million designated in Kentucky’s Cleaner Water Program to get water lines to unserved rural areas.

“I know the state has so many millions for people that are not served with water,” Lewis said. “Are you all trying to get a grant for that?”

“The answer to that is no, we are not,” chairperson Jimmy Kerr said.

Kerr said management could not handle the system now, and the cost to run water to the homes on Spicy Mountain would be $4 million.

“That cost, for – how many people live up there now?” Kerr asked.

“Forty,” said Lewis.

“The trade-off for that right now would not be feasible for the water district,” declared Kerr.

Lewis asked about the possibility of a water line coming from Johnson County.

Alliance Water Resources manager Craig Miller answered.

“I personally spoke to Johnson County and asked them if they would be willing to take over that whole portion of the system, but I haven’t gotten any definitive answer one way or the other,” Miller said.

Kerr assured Lewis the district was seeking solutions to repair the kiosk that was vandalized.

“But to answer your question directly about seeking any grants directly for that, we are not,” repeated Kerr.

“The operating cost down the road really is the biggest concern,” he said.

Miller asked if there were “10 households” on Spicy.

“No. There’s more than that now,” said Lewis.

Lewis and her neighbor Sue McGinnis, who also attended the meeting, identified 13 residences.

“Della Barton, she had to move out of her home,” McGinnis said. “Take her mom — that’s lived there her whole life and is sick, has Alzheimer’s, and sneaks out of the house now wanting to ‘go home’ — because they have no water and can’t take care of her.”

Lewis talked about the hardship the water situation is creating. She and her neighbors travel several miles on a muddy unpaved road to get to the kiosk when it is operational. They use tokens purchased at the water district’s billing office to access the kiosk and fill large containers strapped to a truck bed. They then haul their water back to their properties and pump it into underground cisterns that gravity-feeds into their homes.

“The water situation is chaotic,” she said. “What do we do to try to get some results?”

Kerr said he was sympathetic.

“From a fiscal standpoint of the water district, it’s just not something that we can do,” he said. “Not at this time.”

Turning to Miller, Kerr asked, “How many tokens do we even sell up there? Do we sell very many tokens up there? I’m sure we’ve got those numbers somewhere.”

“We do,” said Miller.

Alliance employee JJ Ridings chirped in, saying he had those numbers with him at the last board meeting.

“Yeah, we had them at the last board meeting,” Miller echoed.

“Jimmy and I discussed this several times, and when we looked at the potential to run water up in that area, you’re talking about having to build a tank and a booster station,” said Miller.

Miller stated it would take “hundreds of years for the water district to see a return” on the investment for Spicy Mountain.

“That’s whether we used a grant, which is taxpayer money, or we have the money ourselves,” said Miller.

“I get that,” said Lewis. “But there is a lot of money out there for our situation, and we pay taxes just like everybody else.”

“We have to try to run this as a business,” insisted Kerr. “I know that’s awful to say when it’s your water system, but it’s the truth.”

“Everybody in here, except for us, has water,” said Lewis. “How would you feel?”

Board member John Hensley said the district needed to fix the kiosk system now.

“But then we still need to go ahead and try to do something,” Hensley said. “This is not the first time this has been vandalized.”

Lewis pleaded, “We’re taxpayers just like everyone else, but it’s almost like we’re living in a third-world country.”

Lewis pointed out that a gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds.

“Do you all know how many vehicles we have gone through?” she said. “Go on my road right now and check it out. The road is in bad condition. Between my husband and Marybeth’s husband Lloyd, they’re constantly on the road. We’re grading roads with our own tractors, our own farm tractors, using our own diesel, and we’re not getting paid anything.

“It’s not right because there are monies coming in especially for this, so we need to start working together and try to do a little bit better for this community,” added Lewis. “This community is like a third-world country.”

Kerr put the responsibility on the residents.

“You all are going to have to be persistent there at the fiscal court,” Kerr told Lewis. “Like I said, work with Johnson County’s Fiscal Court, and I will show up anywhere you need me to show up and speak to whomever needs to be spoken to when the time comes.”

Magistrate Derrick Stepp said Martin County Fiscal Court and Johnson County Fiscal Court should work together.

Stepp asked if Martin County would be able to apply for Cleaner Water Program funds to run the line from Johnson County.

“I don’t know,” said Kerr. “That’s a good question. … My initial thought would be ‘no.’”

Hensley suggested both counties could apply and work together.

In the meantime, the water district is stationing a person at the kiosk from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. each Friday so residents can purchase water.

“Is that working?” asked Miller.

Lewis said her husband was not home from work at that time.

“I can only take like 270 gallons each load,” she said. “I’m not able to get enough each time, but we’re just doing the best we can do.”

McGinnis said her brother retired and bought a truck to haul water for her family.

“We couldn’t have done it,” she said. “That’s how we have a way to haul water now, and god only knows how long it’s going to last.”

Kerr backtracked and said, “We’ll do what we can.”

The Mountain Citizen reached out to Kerr and Alliance Water Resources to request documentation of the $4 million assessment to run a water line to Spicy Mountain and the cost estimate for operation and maintenance but received no reply.