Residents thirst for safe water supply

By SHELBY SCHROEDER

Plans with a private supplier are moving ahead despite the complaints of a dissenter.

SOUTHINGTON — Many Southington residents are hoping to get fresh, safe drinking water through a private company, but one former Trumbull County official is trying to stop them.

For most of the township’s 3,800 residents, the water supply is unsafe, scarce or nonexistent, Southington Trustee Clifford Plott said.

The available well water brings in calls to the trustees from unhappy, and sometimes furious, residents. What kind of calls?

“Well, do you have all day?” Plott asked. “There are hundreds upon hundreds of complaints by the people.”

Among those complaints, he said, are “lousy water, black sludge coming out of faucets, minerals destroying hardware in homes.” Much of the well water available in the township contains unsafe levels of sulfur or arsenic, according to the state Environmental Protection Agency. In some water, mineral content is so high that homeowners must replace faucets annually.

But the township has been trying for more than a decade to solve the problem.

The township sought help from Trumbull County. Tom Holloway, the county’s sanitary engineer at the time, prepared a plan for the county to deliver water from Warren and had Southington residents petitioned to determine whether they were interested in the deal.

But when the petitions returned to the county, 54 percent of residents said they were not interested in paying for the project. According to Holloway, the county requires 80 percent approval to take on the project.

The township was forced to look elsewhere for water, and in 2004, Southington trustees contacted Aqua Ohio, a privately owned water provider.

Within a year, Aqua secured a deal with Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien to obtain water from the city. In March 2007, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ruled that the company could move forward on a project to connect the communities.

Then Tom Holloway, now the chief engineer for the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, stepped in. The MVSD is a government operation that provides drinking water in the region.

At several meetings between the township and Aqua, he raised concerns that the company was not prepared to service Southington. And in a letter to the PUCO on Aug. 28, Holloway said the township and Aqua “have made no progress on constructing water service.”

Al Sauline, Aqua’s vice president of government relations, is familiar with Holloway’s complaints. He said the project, which Aqua estimates will cost $3.1 million, has been delayed by nearly 18 months because of lack of funding. Sauline said the company wants to fund the pipeline from Warren into the township with a blend of money from the federal government, Southington residents and Aqua.

He added that the company is looking at all of its financial options.

But Holloway said the use of federal money is not outlined in Aqua’s application to the PUCO. On top of that, he said, the company has exceeded the length of time it promised to complete the project, taking longer than Trumbull County would have, if it were in charge.

Sauline dismissed Holloway’s claims, saying the delay is beyond the company’s control.

But for many Southington residents and trustees, Aqua is not the offender.

“Actually, Tom Holloway is one of the problems,” Plott said. “He imposed certain criteria we couldn’t meet [and] he continues to be an obstruction,” he said, referring to Holloway’s letter requesting the PUCO vacate its ruling to permit Aqua’s project.

But Holloway said the policy of securing the 80 percent approval existed before he was sanitary engineer. He also said he does not see himself as the bad guy but as someone trying to make sure the township isn’t taken for a financial ride.

“It’s about protecting the public,” Holloway said. “What it comes down to in my letter is that Aqua said they would provide water [and] in a timely matter.”

“These people still don’t have water,” he said.

But Sauline said that if the township agreed with Holloway, no one has raised doubts with the company.

“If anyone would say we’re taking advantage of them, isn’t it amazing that the residents or trustees haven’t?” he asked.

Many at Aqua and in Southington said Holloway has malicious reasons for opposing Aqua’s deal with the township. But Holloway admitted that if Trumbull County took over the project, the MVSD, where he now works, could supply water for Southington.

“I’m a public servant and I’ve been providing water service for years,” he said. “I think water should be a public service.”

Sauline said that despite attempts to dissuade the PUCO from Aqua’s project, the company is still in motion.

The township is exploring the option of becoming its own water district, which Sauline said could lead to a water service contract for Aqua.

Trustees will have a preliminary hearing with the county on those plans Nov. 13. Holloway thinks the plan is unnecessary, but Plott said it is not his concern.

“I can tell you two facts,” Plott said. “One, we definitely need water in Southington; two, MVSD cannot solve our problems.”

sschroeder@vindy.com