Jul 29, 2024 By Mike Jones 5 min read

People living in southeastern Greene County are becoming increasingly frustrated by the continued problems with East Dunkard Water Authority’s system after numerous customers have been without water for two days following an issue with a holding tank.

Pennsylvania American Water Co., which now oversees the authority that serves more than 4,200 people in the system, announced Saturday morning that a power outage caused its Donley holding tank to drain, leaving nearly 200 households in the Davistown neighborhood of Dunkard Township without water.

While the company immediately issued a boil water advisory Saturday following the disruption, people affected by the outage were confused by the warning since they had no water to boil. They were also concerned about the lack of communication about why the outage was happening and what was being done to correct it.

“There’s just a lack of communication and transparency,” said Jessica McHugh, who lives on School Bus Road near Davistown. “We know by now the system is broken, and unless they have a huge infrastructure repair, we’re going to continue to have these problems. But I think people are outraged because there’s no communication.”

After it appeared the outage would be prolonged, McHugh went to the store to purchase drinking water for her dogs. But she didn’t know how much to buy since there has been no estimate on when service will be restored. She now has concerns about the possibility of a leaking pipe causing the Donley tank to drain in addition to the electrical malfunction, meaning the outage could go on longer than expected.

“Is there a leak? Are there plans to haul water to fill the tank after the leak is repaired? It’d be nice to know what the plans are when looking at problems like this,” McHugh said.

Pennsylvania American Water spokesman Brent Robinson said the initial electrical problem happened Friday night, causing the Donley tank to drain Saturday. After the initial outage left 184 households without water, the company has restored water to 50 of those customers by Sunday afternoon, he said.

“This is not going to be long-term. Absolutely not,” Robinson said. “We have a lot of resources there. The guys are working daylight to dark and they’re giving it their all.”

Robinson said they are searching for leaks as part of the process of restoring water through the distribution system.

“They’re just trying to isolate areas and if there’s a leak, then they have to fix it,” Robinson said. “The difficult part is that we’re limited with what the pump can provide out there in the disruption system.”

A tanker with potable water was set up Saturday at the intersection where Bunning Hill and Pigeon Hole roads meet in Davistown, and people have been traveling there to fill up jugs of water. Pennsylvania American Water also announced Sunday afternoon that it is setting up “additional potable water tankers beyond the current one” in the area, indicating that the outage may continue longer than expected. A second water buffalo was placed at Bunner Hill and Meadow Hill roads Sunday afternoon, Robinson said.

Rose Burke, who has complained of poor water quality for years, questioned how the Donley tank drained without anyone at the East Dunkard water plant near Dilliner noticing it before the system failed.

“Doesn’t PA Water have experienced people to come in and fix the problem?” Burke said. “I want accountability.”

The East Dunkard Water Authority has been plagued with problems and boil advisories in recent years, culminating in a system-wide outage that left all customers without water for three days in late October.

Pennsylvania American Water, which agreed to purchase the troubled authority for $5 million last July, was awarded a court-ordered receivership of the system in February following an emergency request by the state Department of Environmental Protection, and has been managing it since. The state Public Utility Commission is expected to finalize and approve the sale soon.

Burke said she thinks Pennsylvania American Water should supply affected residents with cases of bottled water in addition to setting up water buffaloes. She noted that there are numerous seniors who are affected, meaning they can’t carry jugs of water from their vehicles into their homes.

“I think it’s irresponsible for PA American not to supply us with bottles of water. I appreciate the water buffaloes, but we need drinking water,” Burke said. “Give everyone who needs it a case of water.”

Once the system is fixed and water flow is restored, the authority is asking all Davistown customers to boil their water due to the possibility of bacteria. Once the Donley tank is refilled, the authority will begin testing water samples to see when it is safe to drink the water without boiling.

“A loss of positive water pressure is a signal of the existence of conditions that could allow contamination to enter the distribution system through back-flow by back pressure or back siphonage,” the company said. “As a result, there is an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.”

No other customers in the East Dunkard system are affected by the recent outage or being asked to boil their water.

The authority is posting updates on its website at www.eastdunkardwater.com and Facebook page, and it is expected to notify customers through those channels or phone messages when the boil water is lifted.