Protect Middleway
Advocating for clean water and sustainable growth in historic Middleway, West Virginia — and beyond.
We are small business owners, farmers, factory workers, nurses, pastors, artists, and activists.
Protect Middleway is a grassroots movement of concerned citizens with a mission to protect the natural resources, local ecology, infrastructure and the historic integrity of the village of Middleway in West Virginia and its surrounding areas.
Our Concerns
Sidewinder Enterprises, LLC has re-submitted their concept plan to the Jefferson County Planning Commission to build the one-million-square-foot Mountain Pure Water Bottling Facility on a remediated industrial zone in Middleway that was formerly owned by 3M. The remediated industrial site contains two toxic chemicals – Trichloroethane and Cis-1,2 Dichloroethene – in a plume of contaminated groundwater.
The company has already bought a section of Turkey Run, a surface stream that runs through the historic village, and Lake Louisa, a surface pond fed by nearby karst springs. These surface waters are contained within a rurally zoned parcel whose groundwater connects into Middleway’s residential wells and whose surface water feeds into the larger Potomac River watershed. This parcel contains their commercial wells and were left off the original concept plan, leading it to be rejected at the Planning Commission Public Workshop on November 12. Sidewinder will run pipes for almost two miles from this parcel to their bottling facility at the former 3M site.
The Impacts
This facility will likely cause irreparable harm to our community, our county, and the Potomac River watershed as a whole.
We fear that the industrial extraction from our aquifer – especially while our community is already experiencing a prolonged drought – will cause farms, wetlands, and residential wells to dry up.
In addition, hydrological experts predict that the tremendous amount of water Sidewinder plans to extract may move the toxic plume of forever chemicals through karst channels – and toward hundreds of residential wells in the historic village.
1 Million Square Feet
The final size of the facility after the completion of both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project. This would be one of the largest water bottling facilities in the country.
770 Vehicles
The estimated number of additional vehicles – including 160 tractor trailers and an unknown number of construction vehicles – on our roads that date from the eighteenth-century. The final facility plan has parking spots for 406 trailer trailers.
1.728 Million Gallons
The amount of water extracted per day from their commercial wells. This is enough water to service 5,760 homes.
Trichloroethane and Cis-1,2 Dichloroethene
The toxic chemicals found in the groundwater contamination on the former site of the 3M plant. There are also other contaminated landfills and spill ponds on the site.
Our Mission
We want jobs and businesses in our community – but not at the expense of our drinking water sources through impermissable and unregulated industrial extraction. We have organized our community to urge the Jefferson County Planning Commission and local officials to protect the health, safety, and heritage of our community by rejecting the revised concept plan.
Protect Our Water
We want a sustainable and healthy water supply.
Protect Our Homes
We want safe roads without damage to our homes or risk to our lives.
Protect Our Farms
We want thriving farms that continue to feed our community.
Protect Our History
We want to preserve our heritage and historical homes.
Protect the Watershed
We want a healthy ecosystem for wildlife to flourish.
Take Action
We’re building our group of community volunteers and advocates. We welcome all types of skills — baking, writing grant applications, monitoring streams, lobbying, etc. Email us at contact@protectmiddleway.org to learn how you can get involved.
Updates
WV Public Broadcasting: "Middleway Bottling Plant Rejected Unanimously By Planning Commission"
March 2025 | The Jefferson County Planning Commission has unanimously rejected a revised concept plan for Mountain Pure Water Bottling Facility, a development proposal that has been mired in public concern since it was first presented to the commission last November…
WV Public Broadcasting: "Preservationists Declare Historic Middleway ‘Endangered’ By Proposed Bottling Plant"
January 2025 | Buildings along the streets of Middleway, a village in southern Jefferson County, date back to the late eighteenth century. But preservationists say a recent bottling plant proposal could place its historic integrity at risk…
WV Public Broadcasting: "Jefferson County Delays Water Bottling Facility After Extensive Local Pushback"
November 2024 | Plans for a controversial water bottling plant in the tiny Jefferson County community of Middleway have been delayed after local officials deemed them incomplete. During a tense meeting of the Jefferson County Planning Commission Tuesday evening, dozens of residents packed…