PSC shifts Gary water system to McDowell County PSD, repairs may take years

Gary’s water system is now under McDowell County Public Service District control, but residents should not expect quick relief from boil-water worries, bad pipes, or unreliable service. The Public Service Commission of West Virginia finalized an operations-and-maintenance agreement on April 16, putting the county district in charge of a system that state officials have described as badly damaged and long neglected.

The move follows the PSC case opened in August 2025 after complaints about water pollution and extreme water loss. The order said customers were already under a boil-water advisory, and PSC staff later identified lead in the water, corroded pipes, structural problems, exposed wire and a lack of proper monitoring. Public and evidentiary hearings were held in Welch on March 19, 2026 as the state pushed the case toward a fix.

The repair horizon is grim. One report tied to the takeover said Gary could be looking at as much as 10 years before it has reliably clean, drinkable water again. The system includes 60-year-old water tanks that have never been properly cleaned, a detail that underscores how much of the work goes far beyond routine maintenance. The crisis sits inside a larger pattern of long-term mining damage and aging infrastructure across southern West Virginia.

Gary’s size makes the problem even harder to solve. McDowell County had 19,111 residents in the 2020 census, while Gary had just 762. That gap helps explain why a town this small cannot shoulder a full rebuild on its own, and why the PSC turned to the county district after months of formal intervention. A 2026 report said state officials were still trying to classify the system as distressed or failing before the takeover agreement was completed.

The water case is also part of a longer history of state scrutiny in Gary. In 2024, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported that the PSC had already been weighing a takeover of Gary’s sewer system and had considered McDowell County PSD, the City of Welch, Veolia and West Virginia-American Water Company as possible operators.

The search for a lasting water supply has extended beyond the town’s existing lines. A U.S. Geological Survey study identified seven possible alternate sources for Gary, including six abandoned mine discharges and one flooded underground mine air shaft. The measurable sources ranged from 0.082 cubic feet per second to 3.685 cubic feet per second, and the mine shaft was estimated to drain about 1.7 square miles of abandoned underground mines in the Pocahontas No. 3 seam, with another 0.9 square miles possible in the Pocahontas No. 4 seam. That is the scale of the system Gary may have to rely on just to keep water flowing.