engineering major from Charleston. “Some of the family members
catch rain water to wash their dishes, while others utilize the
creeks nearby. Having grown up just 40 minutes away from
Prenter, learning about these conditions was shocking.”
On March 4, 2017, the group of WVU engineering students
traveled to Prenter to begin an assessment of the community’s
water quality and equipment. They found that extensive work
would need to be completed before the water system could be
restored, including resurfacing the water storage and treatment
contact tank to ensure a viable location to store clean water
for the community.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
“To repair the tanks, we had to remove paint,
treat rust spots and power wash the surface,
which was a significant challenge without a
water supply,” says Morgan King, a civil and
environmental engineering major from Charles-
ton. “We had to dig trenches to collect rain water
just to operate the washer and clean the tanks.”
Prenter residents are desperate for relief but
fearful that asking too many questions about
the water quality will cause the coal company
to uproot them from their homes.
“Many have asked why we don’t get law en-
forcement or other agencies involved, and the
answer is simple—it would cause more harm
than good,” says Courtney Gelety, a physics
major from Harpers Ferry. “The residents of
Prenter own their homes, but they rent their
land from the coal company. If the company
felt they were going to be reprimanded in any way, they could
simply evict these people from the homes they grew up in. It’s
a delicate situation, and with no other assistance in sight, it’s
important that we do as much as we can to help.”
During their four-day trip, the team was able to finish resur-
facing, priming and painting the contact tank, which will make
future maintenance and upgrades much easier to complete. They
determined that a new sustainable drainage system will even-
tually need to be installed to maintain the repaired equipment.
Extensive work also needs to be completed on the overgrown
access road that leads to the water system.