Many cities in central and southeast Kentucky draw water from the Kentucky River. Other communities tap into the Big Sandy, Ohio, Licking and Mississippi Rivers. Still, wells remain the chief source of drinking water for many rural towns. Joe Burns, with the Kentucky Rural Water Association, says well water is often cleaner and cheaper.“When you look at cost wise, there are some ground water systems in the state that require virtually no treatment. That the water coming out of the ground on its own virtually meets E-P-A drinking water parameters,” said Burns.
The Kentucky Rural Water Association is staging it’s annual technical meeting in Lexington this week. In its 32 year history, Burns says the number of individual water systems across the state has shrunk from 17 hundred to about 400 today. He says financial constraints caused much of the consolidation.
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