SENATE PASSES BILL TO PROTECT STATE'S WATER

(02/05/2004)
West Virginia is taking a step toward laying claim to the streams, creeks and rivers that flow through the hills of the Mountain State.

The State Senate has passed a water resources bill.

Berkeley County Senator John Unger says the bill has three main components; the state claims the water, protecting it for its citizens, secondly, a water-use survey will be done on the largest industrial users of water in the state and thirdly, the information from the survey will be studied by a joint legislative committee which will decide if other steps have to be taken to further protect the water.

It was described as a start. The measure faces serious opposition from special interest groups.

Unger says most other states have already taken this step.

He says it's clear, from recent events in the Charleston area and the eastern panhandle that the state's water supply is under threat.

Unger says the special interests groups don't want state residents to know how much water is leaving the state.

Water is the state's last great natural resource.