Don't Drink the Water by Abigail

Don't Drink the Water by Abigail - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

I was raised listening to prideful stories of my family mining coal to power our nation. Nonetheless, the industry that fed my family and provided vital tax money to our communities also took a heavy toll, killing my grandfathers and uncles in mining accidents and with black lung. But my family accepted these risks; it just came with the job. However, it wasn’t until I turned 10 that I realized the dangers of coal in my wider community.

In 2014, Freedom Industries dumped 10,000 gallons of coal processing byproduct into my hometown’s drinking water when a hole developed in the base of one of the 76-year-old tanks. Hours to days went by before the leak was identified. Even worse, the leak wasn’t reported to the WV Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the public for more than 3 hours after the accident was discovered by Freedom Industries.

Everywhere we looked, rotten birds, deer, and bears lay wasted from the poisoned water they drank and the beached fish they ate. For months, our town reeked of rotten eggs and paint thinner. The local authorities shut off all water access and urged us to hide away from the fumes that encompassed our town. Out of desperation and fear, my community stole bottled water from stores miles from our home. Neighbors stole bottled water from one another, too. But, soon, our rations were gone.

If we had the means, we were encouraged to escape town until the spill was contained. But the chemicals never went away.

The immediate and long-term health effects of the chemical spill devastated my community and wreaked havoc on my family. My wider community was exposed to a range of pollutants linked to various long-term health risks, including cancer, respiratory diseases, neurological disorders, and reproductive issues.

For my dad, however, the effects of the spill were more immediate as the contaminated water pooled around his feet in our shower before the spill’s announcement. The chemicals seared into his skin, concentrating on the soles of his feet. Soon after, red cellulitis rashes streaked up his swollen feet and into his legs. For 11 years, sores grew and shrank, sealing life-threatening infections in his bone marrow, leaving him unconscious, bedridden, and in need of emergency surgeries to remove necrotic appendages.

My experience growing up in West Virginia’s Chemical Valley, where industrial pollution contaminates the air, water, and soil, inspired my passion for environmental public health. With your help, I will enroll at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health this fall and achieve my dreams of becoming an environmental public health professional by 2027. Expanding upon my work at Empty Arms Bereavement Support, where I researched the reproductive health effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and other forever chemicals, I will dive deeper by investigating the link between maternal and paternal preconception exposure to forever chemicals and pregnancy outcomes. Although established literature connects EDCs to decreased sperm count, irregular menstruation, and worsened fetal health, there is a drastic need for causal studies. Under Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah and Dr. John Petrozza, I hope to synthesize my knowledge working for Empty Arms to not only research the adverse effects of EDCs on contaminated communities but also advocate for compassionate community support for those experiencing reproductive trauma.

What started as an accident born out of corporate negligence turned into a decades-long fight between WV American Water and my community–a fight that I regret to say we are losing. Following an innovative education at Harvard University, I hope to lead hazardous waste remediation projects in Environmental Justice communities like my own. With a specialization in Exposure and Risk Sciences, I will prevent and respond to accidents such as the 2014 Elk River Chemical spill around the country. By helping to fund my education, your generosity contributes to a paradigm shift in environmental health research, consumer product design, and ethical waste management.