These days, all the talk is about broadband internet. Without high-speed connections, it is said, there can be no business growth.

A big push is underway in these counties to get in on federal grant funding that will help to build a reliable and comprehensive broadband infrastructure. And that is all to the good.

But in the meantime, it seems that Mathews County has leapfrogged beyond another critical component for progress: a reliable, clean source of water for businesses.

Fourteen years ago, in January 1996, the Mathews Main Street Committee said public water was the greatest need for business growth in the village. (That, of course, was before terms such as "broadband" and "internet" had fully imprinted themselves on the zeitgeist).

Its recommendation followed a case in which a deli had opened for business, but then was forced to close, because it could not get water from a private well that met state health standards. The county board ordered a water s...