Time’s World Water Crisis

TIME just ran a series of photographs chronicling the “World Water Crisis.”

Of all the photographs, developing countries dominated the bad news. Africa, India, Asia, China were heavily featured in pictures of aquatic degradation and scarcity.

But one photograph jumped out at me.

Kenny Stroud and his son in Rawl, West Virginia. The caption reads:

Foul-smelling water mixed with coal had been running from Kenny Stroud’s faucet for more than a decade before clean tap water was finally provided by the city of Rawl, West Virginia. Residents of the town with similar problems blame Massey Energy, a coal mining company for the bad water, saying that the problem, caused by the company’s practice of dumping coal slurry into local streams and waterways, has caused numerous health problems. In 2007, Massey settled a $30 million lawsuit filed by the state.

About JW Randolph

Raised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.