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Officials break ground on Mineral Wells water project

By Brett Dunlap 4 min read

MINERAL WELLS -- A multi-million dollar water project to improve service and infrastructure around the Mineral Wells area is now underway.

Officials with the USDA Rural Development office, the Mineral Wells Public Service District, Burgess & Niple Inc. and others gathered at the Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department. to officially break ground on the water systems improvement project.

USDA Rural Development invested $3.6 million in the project through its Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program which will be added to other funding for a more than $5 million project. The project will improve the reliability of the water supply by helping replace 2,750 feet of water main from the Claywood Water Treatment Plant to the river crossing.

"The project will help improve water service and provide safe and reliable service to over 2,500 customers in the Mineral Wells area," said USDA Rural Development West Virginia State Director Ryan Thorn.

In Mineral Wells, Wood County and throughout West Virginia infrastructure is aging and the bipartisan infrastructure bill will help replace some of that aging infrastructure in West Virginia. USDA Rural Development has invested more than $150 million in 76 projects over the last few years, Thorn said.

"Folks will benefit from it for years to come," he said.

In addition to providing people water for drinking, water availability can also help spur economic development and job growth, officials said.

"It is good that we are coming together, each of us, to celebrate the recent start for this water improvement project for the Mineral Wells,'' said Rodney Holbert of Burgess & Niple Inc., the firm who did the engineering work on the project. "We work with clients to help develop projects that really change lives for people.

"Our infrastructure is in great need of funding."

Holbert also is a "lifelong resident" of the area and is a customer of Mineral Wells PSD.

The PSD is about "providing a public need," he said, adding President Joe Biden, former U.S. Rep. David McKinley and U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., all had a hand in making the project a reality.

"They worked together to pass this bill and we are now starting to see the benefits of it," Holbert said.

The project has been in the works since 2021 when the funding was approved, Thorn said, adding he believes it will take around another year to complete the work.

"Work is currently underway," he said.

Rural Development has invested around $1 billion in West Virginia over the last few fiscal years through grants, direct loans and loan guarantee programs to help strengthen infrastructure, enhance public safety and provide community services that might be lacking in some parts, Thorn said.

"Having adequate safe and reliable basic infrastructure, like water and sewer service, is the basis for any community economic development," he said. "A company won't locate to an area, a hospital won't locate to an area if there is not adequate water and sewer service.

"Having safe and reliable infrastructure in a community is paramount to any other community's economic development."

Bernard Cothern, member of the Mineral Wells PSD Board and a founding member of the Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department, talked about the charges that have occurred to the community over the years and how the department has worked with the PSD to help improve the area.

Mineral Wells Public Service District General Manager Todd Anderson showed the original groundbreaking shovel that was used to commemorate the start of the installation of the water system in the area, starting in 1970.

He expressed his appreciation to everyone involved with the project.

"On behalf of Mineral Wells, I want to say thank you," Anderson said.

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