Quantcast
Channel: Local News
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10633

Water problems in Mount Carmel

$
0
0

MOUNT CARMEL - While water pressure in the borough continues to fluctuate, the water company has taken additional steps to get to the bottom of the situation.

A pressure recorder will be placed in the house of Joseph Kripplebauer, of 204 E. Seventh St., today to take note of the fluctuations the homeowner has been experiencing since Aqua Pennsylvania, Roaring Creek Division, has made several fixes earlier this month.

"Monday and Tuesday (last week), I had really good water pressure. The shower was good, the dishwasher was cleaning dishes, but then it dropped down again on Wednesday," Kripplebauer said. He has been vocal in the last month about the sporadic water pressure, and presented a petition signed by 29 Seventh Street residents to council in October. He also filed a complaint with the Public Utility Commission (PUC) about the problem.

The home of Councilman Leroy "Chico" Moser, who lives at the corner of Market and Seventh streets, was also fitted with a pressure recorder last week to monitor his water fluctuations.

"It (water pressure) is not much better, but it's a little bit," Moser said.

Both Kripplebauer and Moser said they are grateful for the efforts.

"I feel better about it," Kripplebauer said. "At least we're communicating now. Before, there was no effort. We'll see what happens."

Tate Hunsinger, Roaring Creek Division manager, is "really trying," Moser said. "He came personally to check it out, and now I'm just waiting on what he is going to say."

Hunsinger said Tuesday a hydrant flow test was performed on Nov. 16 with promising results: a hydrant at Sixth and Walnut streets was measured with a projected flow at 20 Pounds per Square Inch (PSI) at 1,189 gallons per minute (GPM) and a hydrant at Fifth and Walnut streets was measured at the same PSI at 1,562 GPM.

"I would say it's back to normal, maybe even better. There's room to improve upon that," Hunsinger said.

The promising numbers contrast to what Anthracite Steam and Fire Company Chief Jack Williams Jr. said at Nov. 15's borough council meeting.

Because of the low quality, he told council, "We have to re-think our strategies if they are any fires in that end of town. We're good in the lower end. We will have to run longer hoses from better hydrants."

Williams was unable to be reached since the meeting to provide the measurements of the tests he performed, but said hydrants on the corner of Seventh and Market streets and Seventh and Chestnut streets checked Nov. 10 showed poor results.

Hunsinger noted Aqua's test and the fire company's tests were different, first in the tools used, but also in the time they were measured.

Hunsinger said hydrants are inspected once a year each spring, but there has been no problems found in any hydrants.

Since five leaks were fixed earlier this month, an additional four leaks were found by a professional leak detector Nov. 11.

A water main break at 329 S. Lemon St. was fixed Nov. 14; a water service leak at 112 E. Seventh St. was fixed Nov. 19; and a hydrant leak at Sixth and Vine street was fixed Nov. 13.

A customer leak at 344 S. Maple St. was found; the customer was notified, but the leak hasn't been fixed yet, Hunsinger said.

Testing has been proving favorable, and Aqua officials will continue to monitor the situation, he said.

"We're still looking at other things we can do to make them better. We're not done. We're not satisfied," Hunsinger said.

Mayor J. Kevin Jones said something needs to be done.

"It's not acceptable that people don't have water. But on the other had, they (Aqua) didn't say it would be done in a week," he said.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10633

Trending Articles