"Kentucky’s Rural Water Disaster Could Get Worse Before It Gets Better"

"BarbiAnn Maynard tossed a thick stack of blue papers, years of her water bills, on the table. One side of each water bill showed what she owed. On the other side were notices of drinking water violations—high levels of carcinogenic chemicals—found in Martin County, Kentucky’s water supply. By the time she received them in the mail, the toxins had been in the water for months.

Pointing at the fine print, which warned of heightened risk for the elderly, infants, pregnant people, and those with compromised immune systems, she rattled off names of people she knew who “had cancer, broke out in rashes, or got sick” after drinking or bathing in the water.

Maynard sighed, reading aloud one of the final lines about the chemical violations: “There is nothing you need to do.”"

Lyndsey Gilpin reports for Scalawag March 20, 2018.