FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Work is expected to begin next week on a $425,000 project to pipe clean drinking water into the Burdine community of Letcher County in eastern Kentucky.

The Kentucky Division of Abandoned Mine Lands is paying for the 2.6 miles of water lines because wells in the area have been contaminated by coal mining.

Jenkins Mayor Charles Dixon says the Burdine project is badly needed, not just because of contamination. He said the area's water supply has dried up during summer months in the past.

More than $71 million in Abandoned Mine Lands funds have been used to extend water lines to more than 11,000 homes in the eastern and western Kentucky coalfields.