BORDEN -- The water that Debbie Yutzy and others in this impoverished Allegany County community drink is so contaminated that it almost killed her mother six years ago.
Last month a social worker warned the 27-year-old woman that J. T., her 5-year-old boy, might be taken away from her because letting him drink the water amounted to neglect.
"They told us not to use the water, but we don't have any choice. This is our only water supply," she said. "She said I have to either get good water in here, whatever that may be, or move out, and if I don't and continue to live here, they are going to take him away."
The social worker, Cathy Kline, said she could not comment on an individual case. But it's one of the painful ironies in this place that while the county social services department is threatening to take a child from his mother, it says it can't afford to get decent water to Borden.
What seems to make it even more ironic is that only a few miles from here, Allegany County is paying more than $500,000 to supply public water to a group of middle-class homeowners who were part of an influential citizens coalition that unsuccessfully opposed plans for a $7 million landfill nearby.
In another part of the county, officials are completing the design of a $2.9 million water and sewer system for a community with less severe contamination problems than Borden's, but with the good fortune of having a new $45 million federal prison in its backyard.
Less than a mile away is the city of Frostburg, a college town with a public water system that comes practically to Borden's front door.
No one would build a landfill or a prison near this tiny hamlet of 25 homes, one of the poorest in Allegany County, where the hilly terrain and the long-abandoned deep-shaft mines make it difficult to sustain septic systems or deep-drilled wells. The systems that can be put in are too costly for many residents. One has to go nearly 300 feet down to drill a well of any use in Borden. The hand-dug wells often have contaminated water from either topsoil or waste seeping in.
Many of the people of Borden bring in bottled water -- or drink the contaminated water. They use outdoor toilets and live with the stench of wastewater that flows down the street.
Charles Deal gets his water for washing from the sky, collecting it in a cistern when it rains. He adds a cup of bleach to the water every month to disinfect it. "It keeps the dysentery down," he said.
Mr. Deal has been out of work for four years and lives off money from odd jobs and his wife's disability payments. Many of his neighbors are either unemployed or on fixed incomes.
He hooked up a system of collecting rainwater and pumping it into the house to use for cleaning. "It's still good for washing hair and doing dishes," he said.
The 51-year-old man pointed to a ditch in the street where brown water was trickling down. "I have to throw lime in that ditch during the summer to keep the smell down," he said.
Some people like Joan Tharp are fortunate enough to have septic systems and deep-drilled wells. But even she can't bring herself to drink the water because of the odor from the chemicals. "The smell will turn you away," she said. She uses bottled water instead.
"I don't feel like we are living like normal people," said Barbara Deal, Charles Deal's wife. "We're living like it's the 1800s."
Debbie Yutzy takes care of her 60-year-old mother, Edna Yutzy, who has been bedridden for six years. She contracted salmonella from the drinking water out of their hand-dug well. The disease ate up her intestines and contributed to numerous other health problems, including a stroke, Debbie Yutzy said.
Her family is too poor to afford a drilled well or septic system. Moving is not an option for them. "I can't afford to move," Edna Yutzy said. "This old house is paid for."
But the Allegany County government has bypassed Borden, while going ahead with county-funded -- or federally and state-funded -- projects in other areas of the county, even though health officials have been aware of the serious water contamination problems in Borden. Several years ago, a county survey of homes in Borden and nearby showed that 31.2 percent of the water supplies were contaminated with bacteria -- 7.3 percent with readings of fecal coliform.
"I don't think there is a question in anyone's mind of the need for public water services up in Borden," said Walter Finster, county director of environmental health. "It's a matter of coming up with financing not only that the county can afford, but also the users."
But users of the water extension from Frostburg several miles south to the Vale Summit area, the site of the new landfill, will not have to pay any of the capital costs of running that line near their homes.
And residents in the Mexico Farms area, who have problems because of the high water table in the area, will only have to pay what federal officials determine the users can afford for their $2.9 million water and sewer project -- pushed forward by the planned federal prison.
Water problems have long plagued Allegany County, and officials have tried to bring pockets like Borden into the 20th century with modern water and sewer systems. Former state Sen. John Bambacus said that over a four-year period, about $400 million worth of water and sewer projects were funded in Allegany and Garrett counties.
One of those is a $716,000 sewer project for 65 homes in the Cash Valley Road area, said Gerald Arthur, county public works director. Those people organized into a group and received state funding under a self-help program, under which residents do some of the work, such as restoration of rights of way, he said.
In Vale Summit, residents were part of a powerful citizens coalition that opposed the landfill. While they were not successful in stopping the state from granting a permit for the landfill, they were able to win other battles, such as getting the county zoning board to bring public water to homes near the landfill as a condition for zoning approval. Those residents have the option of hooking up or not hooking up to the water system.
"The landfill was such a visible issue," Mr. Bambacus said. "Sometimes it's just a matter of shaking the tree."
In Mexico Farms, residents formed an association and had their own water company to operate their system. Plans were in the works for many years to get a water system in place in Mexico Farms, Mr. Arthur said.
When the area was named as the location for a new federal prison, the money flowed -- $1.2 million from the U.S. Farmers Home Administration, $650,000 from the federal Appalachian Regional Commission and $900,000 from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
"The federal prison opened the doors for the financial resources to serve Mexico Farms," Mr. Finster said. "The funds lowered the per user share of debt repayment."
Borden residents are neither organized nor powerful. They may not know the system, but they do know that it hasn't worked for them.
Katherine Deal -- Mr. Deal's mother, who had a well drilled two years ago -- has lived in Borden for 52 of her 81 years. She remembers when she first moved to the area that a woman was circulating a petition to get a water system.
"They [public officials] said it would be coming in two years," she said. "They didn't say what was in front of the two. Fifty-two years is a long time to wait."
Some of their frustration is with the city of Frostburg. Borden residents say they have been asking city officials for many years to extend water service to the community.
"Any lines that run outside the city are paid for by private companies or the county," said Dr. Ronald Barmoy, a city councilman and water commissioner. "I sympathize with these people, but this is a function of the county."
Mr. Bambacus, a Republican who represented Allegany and Garrett counties for eight years before stepping down last year, said he did not recall ever being contacted by Borden residents. "Sometimes people don't understand access to government, and that frustrates them and they tend to be alienated from the government," he said. "Then they don't know who to turn to."
His successor, Sen. John Hafer, isn't optimistic about getting help for Borden. "Where are we going to find the money in a state that has just found itself another $109 million in debt?" he asked, referring to the state's latest budget deficit figure.
County health officials say they will turn their attention to Borden soon. "We anticipate beginning the process to get a water system project moving in that area this fall," Mr. Finster said.
And Commissioner Adrienne Ottaviani said members of the Board of Commissioners -- all newly elected last year -- did not know the water problem was so severe in Borden until last week, when they learned about it from a department head in a work session.
"We were very upset to hear about how bad things are there, and we are trying to pool resources together to begin to get some of the problems solved," she said.
Two of her colleagues, though, voted down any property tax increase for the county budget, so money for new projects is tighter than ever. And Mr. Arthur, county public works director, said he is not optimistic.
"I don't see it in the near future unless some extraordinary program comes along or funding guidelines change," he said.