East Dunkard Water Authority Customers Dealing With 2nd Recent Boil Water Advisory
DUNKARD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - People in one part of Greene County are demanding clean water. They say it's been an ongoing issue for years, and now they're boiling their water again.
East Dunkard Water Authority serves customers in the communities of Dunkard, Monongahela and Greene townships, serving around 1,600 people. They've been boiling their water for nearly three weeks now and say they've had enough.
"This has been going on for over a year now," said Cheri Huffman.
Huffman is the assistant manager of Jimmie's Place in Dunkard Township. She says she's tired of boiling water.
"We keep getting notifications about the boil advisory and they'll go away for a little bit then they call us again and tell us there's another one in effect," said Huffman.
The Department of Environmental Protection issued the most recent boil water advisory on March 11, saying the water treatment plant experienced a breakdown in treatment and there was increased turbidity in the water and it wasn't properly flushed.
This is the second boil water advisory customers have been dealing with recently. The last one was issued Jan. 25 and was lifted Feb. 11, 2022.
Meantime, while Huffman says the ice machine has its own filtration system, she's having to clean the filter out every few days.
"There will be sludge and dirt and things in that filtration system. We are constantly having to do that because it just backs up the machine," said Huffman.
Donna Todd lives in nearby Bobtown. She says the water has a bad smell to it. She says she refuses to boil the water because she doesn't trust it, so she buys her own.
"A lot of people in the area get brown water. We don't, only if the fire department uses it, but a lot of them live on top of the hill and experienced brown water for many years, said Todd.
Pennsylvania state Representative Pam Snyder says she's been fighting to get the issue fixed for a very long time.
"It's something we have all tried to resolve, but the board in place before really didn't want to go forward with any project that would provide funding," said Snyder.
The funding would allow a neighboring water company to take over and get the 1,600 people who use East Dunkard Water Authority deserve.
"This is a public health crisis," said Snyder. "These people deserve to have clean drinking water."
Snyder says East Dunkard Water Authority has $3.7 million in debt, so she says funding is important so a new water company won't absorb those costs.
The solicitor for East Dunkard Water Authority says it's working with the DEP to comply with their recommendations. She says the EDWA has reached out to apply for grants so repairs can be made. The solicitor says the EDWA hopes to sell the water authority to the neighboring Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority in the future.
Snyder says she's meeting with members of the EDWA next week.