Reader: Recent column was ‘slipshod’ in use of facts
There was a recent (column in the Greene County Messenger) authored by Ken Dufalla involving Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority that was rather slipshod in its use of facts.
The article presumes that bromide levels are sky high, but acknowledges that no one is currently required to test for it. DEP does not require SPWA to test for it and DEP has no standards of what is unacceptable levels. The author cannot presume a fact (sky-high levels of bromide in the Mon River) that has never been established by testing. The article then jumps from bromide to Wisecarver Dam.
The authority received a grant totaling $2,975,000 to fix the breastwork by the state. There were no conditions on the grant and 100 percent of that grant money was used to repair the dam. While the authority was repairing the dam, it explored, on its own initiative, the feasibility of building a park around Wisecarver using the land owned by the authority.
The County of Greene, Franklin Township, Waynesburg University and the Greene County Memorial Hospital Foundation were asked to help plan this potential recreational facility. A $25,000 grant was received and spent on the Park Master Plan, which is still available to any party wanting to still see a park created with ball fields and boating. A $100,000 matching grant was later received and then refunded when matching funds were not provided from another source to proceed with a business plan.
SPWA could not find a partner who was interested in building a park. SPWA spent money trying to get the park off the ground but is not in the business of recreation and cannot spend rate payers’ monies to build parks. The land is still available for such an idea if it does not cost the authority money to build such a park. Taxpayers need to push this agenda, if wanted, with their elected officials.
The Fish Commission came, unannounced, to stock the reservoir with fish during the lengthy construction project repairing the dam, only to find that the water had been drained for repairs.
Meanwhile, the water in Wisecarver is available for public purposes which includes selling the water to any company that wants to purchase bulk, untreated water. The proceeds from this endeavor and other income producing ventures keep the authority’s rates to its residential customers, one of the lowest rates in western Pennsylvania.
SPWA has a website, www.spwawater.com. On its site it publishes its annual drinking water quality report. Since the authority switched to chloramination to treat its water intake from the Mon River, it has proven to be highly successful in keeping SPWA well under the MCL for TTHM and HAA5, a problem that other smaller water systems have been plagued with in the past. The DEP does not require a quarterly reporting of water tests by SPWA to the public. That reporting is an annual requirement. SPWA tests its water weekly and those results are reported to DEP on a monthly basis.
SPWA has never received a citation for failure to test its treated water. SPWA’s records are open to the public. As there has never been a problem with the quality of the drinking water to report, the authority agrees with Mr. Dufalla’s comment, “If there is a problem, the water company must notify the customers.” What the authority disagrees with is Mr. Dufalla’s conclusion that he doesn’t like what he is “finding out about some of the actions taking place presently in the county that deal with our water.” These vague, unsubstantiated innuendos leave the public having a false alarm that something is wrong with their water when there is no problem with SPWA treated water.
David Pollock, Esq., Solicitor for SPWA
Pollock Morris, LLC
Waynesburg