Help on the way for Pittsburgh-area residents with unsafe water
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Help is on the way for thousands of Pittsburgh-area residents who've been dealing with unsafe water for years.
KDKA-TV's Jennifer Borrasso: "Do you trust this water?"
Robbie Kronk: "No."
People in Dunkard Township, Greene County have had water trouble for years. Sometimes, residents did not have water at all. Other times, they dealt with outages and seemingly endless boil water advisories from the East Dunkard Water Authority, which serves 4,200 people in Greene County.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission issued an emergency order authorizing Pennsylvania American Water Company to manage and operate the East Dunkard Water Authority. And this month, a Commonwealth Court approved the plan.
Kronk's friend, Damon Casseday, lives in nearby Greene Township and showed KDKA-TV his repulsive water a year and a half ago.
"It's brown," he said. "Just when you take a shower, it's just got a feeling you've jumped into a mud puddle."
Later, he got sores.
"My leg swelled up one day twice its size," Casseday said. "Two days later, I got admitted to the hospital with sores that had busted open. I almost lost my leg."
The solicitor for the East Dunkard Water Authority issued a statement, saying:
"The Board's decision ensures that the water system will receive much needed upgrades, and overall, the Authority's and the ratepayer's future financial liability for negative issues related to the water system will be limited."
Kronk and Casseday said they do not trust the water and want accountability.
"They shouldn't have let it go this long," Kronk said. "If they knew there was a problem this big, then they should have done something more."
Attorney Marc Valentine says he filed a lawsuit last year and over 30 residents are plaintiffs. They are alleging that the water authority did not properly treat the water and misreported monitoring data, among other issues