Car washes, laundries, schools closed to conserve clean water

INEZ, Ky. - A huge spill of gooey coal sludge into eastern Kentucky streams forced officials Monday to close car washes, coin laundries and classrooms to conserve the clean water that's left.

About 200 million gallons of coal waste the consistency of wet cement flowed into streams last Wednesday after a retention pond gave way at a coal-preparation plant on a mountaintop outside of Inez.

The leading edge of the spill made it into the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers, forcing the cities of Inez, Louisa and Kermit, W.Va., to close their water intakes and rely on supplies they have on hand.

Inez was looking into putting a temporary water line into an unaffected stream.

''We're going to have to find an alternative water source,'' said Martin County Deputy Judge-Executive Gary Lafferty. ''That's our big concern right now. We're not going to allow our people to be without water.''

Martin County schools were in session Monday, but classes were ordered canceled until another source of water is found.

Environmental regulators offered Martin County School Superintendent Bill Slone no estimate on when the water crisis might pass.

''All I know is I've got to shut down our schools,'' Slone said. ''We need help, or we could be looking at four to five weeks without classes.''

The leak happened at a plant owned by the Martin County Coal Corp.

The company has had crews working around the clock to dredge the material from the streams. The company also sent two tractor-trailers filled with gallon jugs of water to Louisa on Sunday. Tankers also hauled water to Fort Gay, W.Va., which gets its water from the Louisa plant.

The state has already ordered the company, a subsidiary of A.T. Massey Coal Inc., to replace all the fish and other aquatic life killed and to rebuild roads and bridges ripped away by the torrent.

The cleanup is expected to cost millions.

Fred Stroud, a member of an emergency response team from the Environmental Protection Agency, said it could take at least five to six months to clean up the spill.