FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1996                              (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, EPA ANNOUNCE INNOVATIVE SAFE DRINKING WATER
          SETTLEMENT WITH RURAL WEST VIRGINIA COMMUNITY

  Could Serve As A Model For Resolving Similar Cases Nation-wide

     WASHINGTON, D.C. --  In an innovative Safe Drinking Water
Act settlement, the United States announced today that it will
work with a financially strapped, rural West Virginia community
in McDowell County to help it develop and implement a plan to
provide its citizens with safe, clean water.  The agreement could
serve as a model for ensuring safe drinking water in rural
communities across the country.  

     Under the settlement, filed late yesterday in U.S. District
Court in Charleston, West Virginia, by the Department of Justice
and Rebecca A. Betts, United States Attorney for the Southern
District of West Virginia, the Pageton Community Water Company
has agreed to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act and make
significant improvements to its drinking water system.

     Due to the community's difficult financial position, the
government has helped them identify funding sources to make these
improvements including a possible $700,000 grant from the state
Environmental Protection Division's Abandoned Mine Lands Program. 
In addition, the United States brought in the West Virginia
Community Assistance Program to help raise community awareness
about the water system problems and to assist them in completing
applications for outside funding.

     Pageton is a small, unincorporated community located in the
heart of Appalachia, near the border of West Virginia, Kentucky
and Virginia.  The Pageton Community Water Company provides piped
water to approximately 160 people through 75 service connections. 
Its water system has been under scrutiny by the Environmental
Protection Agency for more than 10 years for violations including
the failure to test for certain harmful bacteria.

     Because Pageton is a very poor and isolated rural community,
EPA found that the community lacked the resources to comply with
safe drinking water laws.  The water supply company has consisted
of three local residents who work part-time and operate out of a
house-trailer.  The 17,500 gallon water tank, which feeds the
distribution system by gravity, is occasionally chlorinated by
hand with liquid bleach.  

     "Every American has a right to clean, safe drinking water, "
said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources
Division.  "This agreement gives Pageton the tools to help
themselves develop a self-sufficient system that will provide
clean, safe water for years to come."

     "The Safe Drinking Water Act aims to guarantee safe public
tap water for all citizens, from the largest metropolis to the
smallest village," said W. Michael McCabe, EPA's Regional
Administrator.  "Today's agreement shows that it works even at
the most local level."

     The settlement comes after a series of meetings between the
United States and Pageton.  Pageton has agreed to make much-needed 
repairs to their system of pipes that carry water from the
town's water source, an abandoned coal mine, to a storage tank. 
The government has also helped Pageton identify sources of state
funding and technical assistance that would help the community
come into compliance.  

     The parties also discussed ways to improve day-to-day
management of the water system which would allow them to comply
with state and federal safe drinking water laws.  Such measures
include regular collection of monthly service fees, monthly
sampling for contaminants, the provision of written notice to
system users of any sampling violations, and the maintenance of a
certified operator on staff at all times.  

     The system is fed by ground water from sealed mines and
surface water from an overflowing spring, which flow to a cistern
where the water is transferred to a head tank by means of a
centrifugal pump.  Treated water is distributed from the gravity
tank to the 75 customers via an estimated 15,000 feet of various
size plastic and cast iron water main and service lines, which
are in varying states of disrepair.

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