Gary residents, groups prepare lawsuit over contaminated water well

Families in Gary are still paying for bottled water, sometimes more than $100 a month, while 19 ratepayers and two environmental groups prepare a class action lawsuit over the town’s only drinking-water well. More than 2,060 cases, or 82,400 bottles, had already been delivered to 280-plus homes in McDowell County by May 24, 2024, a sign of how long the crisis has been draining household budgets.

Appalachian Voices and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition joined the Gary ratepayers in filing a notice of intent to sue Taishan Resources, a China-based mining company. The notice says the company violated the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the West Virginia Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and it alleges Taishan knew Gary’s well was the town’s only drinking-water source when it received a mining permit from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection in 2018.

The water fight has already been building through public hearings and state cases. On March 19 in Welch, residents told officials about blisters after bathing, dirty laundry, and tanks that have not been cleaned. Rhonda Finley described skin problems from the water, while Michael Crace, the water-system reviewer, testified that mining activity by a private company had damaged the system. Crace also said Gary has only one well, contrary to Bureau for Public Health guidance, and described the plant’s interior piping as heavily corroded.

State officials have been tracking the crisis for months. The West Virginia Public Service Commission opened a case into Gary’s water system in August 2025 after complaints about pollution, extreme water loss and a long boil-water advisory. Health officials said the system had high levels of iron, manganese, alkaline metals and other contamination sources, along with 76 percent unaccounted-for water loss. Gary was also hit hard by the February 15, 2025 flood, and Mayor Robert Little said restoring water service was the immediate priority.

The PSC later finalized an operations-and-maintenance agreement for the McDowell County Public Service District to take over the distressed utility. But residents and activists are still pressing for emergency relief while officials describe a full renovation that could take about 10 years. A U.S. Geological Survey study posted late last year examined seven possible alternate water sources for Gary, including six mine discharges and an abandoned flooded mine air shaft, underscoring how closely the town’s future remains tied to the mines that helped make the problem.