"Water Water Every Where (sic) Nor Any Drop to Drink?"

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner gives the reader a powerful image of what happens when a luckless ship breaks into an ocean bereft of breeze or rain. The crew suffers as they lose their supply of fresh water. Lack of water tortures them, giving them "black lips baked." This dire situation of no water has been presented to us by some of our leaders. According to a test that is far from conclusive, the aquifer under Keyser and New Creek may be low.

The problem faced by Coleridge's sailors was that their most convenient source of water had actually disappeared. Although no one has concluded that is the case in Mineral County, let us assume for a minute that the aquifer did start to run low. The unfortunate men on the ship described by Coleridge were surrounded by "water, water every where, nor any drop to drink." If they had lived in our time, modern technology could have saved them by separating the salt from the seawater, giving them as much as they needed.

We don't need modern technology. If the aquifers are low (and that is doubtful considering the precipitation that we have received since November) then all we need is the same technology used 2,000 years ago by the Romans. They drew millions of gallons per day from mountain sources, enough to fill the needs of over a million people and flush Rome's sewers.

We have ample sources of water. The Mountaintop Water Department commissioned a study which claims that their reservoir contains over 100 million gallons of water and does not drop much even in dry spells. Another study confirmed that 10% of the lowest ever recorded flow of the Potomac out of Jennings Randolph Lake could supply the needs of almost ten times the number of people currently living in Mineral County. The idea that we face a water crisis when surrounded by lakes is absolutely preposterous. Did anyone else see some of the streets of Keyser under four inches of water on Saturday?

Coleridge's ship ended up in a supernatural realm where each member of the crew was either sent to death or "death in life." Death in life was a crueler punishment, a cursed existence where a man had some sense of his surroundings, but those surroundings were decayed and foul. This water question, if it creates enough concern, will certainly be used to prevent significant development in Mineral County. For those in certain situations of comfort, keeping things as they are makes sense. However for those who need to find better jobs to feed their families and stay in this region, a Mineral County without growth becomes a death in life. Communities will continue to wither and lives and homes will decay. Of course if given a chance they will leave the state to live better and give their families more.