By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia has the nation’s highest percentage of public water systems with drinking water violations, according to a new Gazette-Mail analysis of federal data.
Of West Virginia’s 831 public water systems, 622 — 74.8% — had drinking water violations in 2023, according to Environmental Protection Agency data, dwarfing the national average of 27.6%.
West Virginia’s percentage of public water systems with drinking water violations was 18.5 percentage points higher than that of the second-highest state, Oklahoma, at 56.1%.
West Virginia had five more public water systems with drinking water violations than Virginia in 2023 despite having 2,032 fewer public water systems. Pennsylvania — the state with the highest rate of water systems with drinking water violations among West Virginia’s neighbors — had 45.3% of its systems fall in that category — nearly 30 percentage points fewer than the Mountain State’s total.
