Joe Burns from the Kentucky Rural Water Association spoke to the Harlan County Fiscal Court about issues with the Black Mountain Utility District’s water system during a recent meeting (Photo by Joe Asher)

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The Harlan County Fiscal Court heard a report concerning the Black Mountain Utility District from a representative of the Kentucky Rural Water Association (KRWA) during the court’s regular June meeting.

Harlan County Judge-Executive called Joe Burns of KRWA to speak to the magistrates shortly after calling the meeting to order.

“Before I turn the floor over to Joe (Burns) I just want to say a couple of things about Kentucky Rural Water Association,” Mosley said. “They are the experts in rural water administration in this state. They are around the clock, through the year, whether that is during good times or bad. We mainly hear about them during the bad times because they are here to help water districts and guide them through difficult challenges when there are major breaks and water outages.”

According to Mosley, KRWA has assisted Harlan County during previous water issues.

“They were a big help both in the January water outage that occurred and the May water outage in the Wallins area,” Mosley said. “They’ve been a big help to us through many outages.”

Mosley mentioned KRWA has helped with water issues in all three of his terms in office.

“They were here at the court meeting last month,” Mosley said. “We had asked during the disaster for KRWA to do an assessment of the entire BMUD operation. That has begun. Joe is here today to talk about the assessment.”

Mosley added a mapping project is included in the assessment.

Burns advised the problems being experienced at BMUD are not unique.

“This is throughout the state at various levels, if not the nation,” Burns said. “It’s aging infrastructure. A lot of times that is compounded by not having enough money.”

Burns pointed out that BMUD has been consistently understaffed. He explained this creates a situation where personnel can only react to issues as they occur. He also mentioned boards and councils often keep rates too low leading to funding issues with water systems.

“Boards – and not just (water) districts, city councils and such – want to do the best for their customers,” Burns said. “One of those things is to maintain rates, make things affordable. That comes around to bite you in the butt in the long run.”

Burns provided an example of another county where he was asked to do a rate assessment. That assessment found a 75 percent increase in rates was needed to properly fund the water system.

“This is across the nation,” Burns said. “It’s not just this one instance alone.”

Burns said the first action needed to find a solution for BMUD’s issues is mapping the system.

“Some data collection has already been done,” Burns said. “It’s the mapping that’s going to drive this assessment.”

Burns explained personnel will evaluate every piece of critical infrastructure and map the location. He explained an assessment will be prepared after completion.

“I would say by October we will have everything ready, and I’ll be glad to come back and present those findings,” Burns said.

Following further discussion, Mosley mentioned that the size of BMUD can cause maintaining the system to be difficult.

“You think about how long it takes to drive from Big Laurel to Holmes Mill or from Totz to Molus,” Mosley said. “This is an enormous district.”

Burns noted water systems in southeast Kentucky face additional challenges due to the mountainous terrain.