Published Wednesday, November 20, 2002
sound very
familiar
Herald Staff Writer
Hugh Ringer, who co-chaired Mercer Water Improvement Now, a special interest committee that helped force the sale of the former Mercer Water Co., said the water problems in Greenville sound similar to the problems his group faced in the 1980s.
"If they could organize, and if the support is there, residents might get a similar group to address their problems," Ringer said.
Last week, Greenville council members called for immediate and major change in the way Greenville Municipal Authority operates and urged water customers to mail to them by Thursday suggestions and opinions about the authority's continuing problems.
Among those problems is water quality. Since the authority's treatment plant opened a decade ago, customers have been "treated to a defective product," council said, referring to complaints of brown, dingy and cloudy water. Just Monday, the state Department of Environmental Protection lifted a more than week-old boil-water advisory to ensure customers' drinking water was free of contaminants.
Ringer said he remembers when the water in Mercer was terrible. "At its worst point, the water was not drinkable. Giardia cysts lived in the water and were making people sick," he said.
John G. "Gerry" Johnson, the other co-chair of Mercer Water Improvement Now, said water quality varied before Mercer Water was sold. Water that came from Otter Creek had to be treated with chemicals; water from artisan wells was very hard and had to be treated with softeners; at one point, he said, there was a problem with microbes in the water.
Besides poor quality, there were problems with water pressure. Stories ran in local papers about brown water, and at least one instance where most of the borough of Mercer had no water pressure at all.
In short, there were few problems Mercer Water Co. didn't have.
So residents banded together to improve their water quality by forming Mercer Water Improvement Now. They organized, Ringer said, had a constitution, and many people were involved.
"We had people to work the legal end, we had people to work with the media, we had political connections," he said.
They held a meeting on the courthouse lawn, which was heavily covered by local and state media, Ringer said. More than 3,000 people attended, he said, and more than 1,000 names were signed on a petition. More than 500 formal written requests were sent to the state Public Utilities Commission.
The PUC investigated, and on Sept. 1, 1989, forced Mercer Water to take action to improve the quality of water it provided to its customers.
The company ended up signing a bulk-water deal with Sharon-based Shenango Valley Water Co., which is now Consumers Pennsylvania Water Co. Shenango Valley Division.
The deal, signed Dec. 12, 1989, among other things, established a $1.7 million project to build an 8-mile water main connecting Hermitage and Mercer.
In March 1996, Consumers laid claim to Mercer Water, invoking a contract clause that stipulated a takeover if Mercer Water fell more than 90 days behind in its payments for the water Consumers provided. Mercer Water fought the sale, but in the end, the PUC eventually ruled in favor of Consumers.
Since then, the water quality has improved.
The rates have gone up, Ringer said, but the hikes were understandable and were not unbearable.
Johnson said the quality of the water in Mercer is very good, and in his service as Mercer council president, no one ever approached him with complaints about the water quality.
"The water system is very commendable," he said.
"Over time, the water quality improved significantly," Ringer said. "The rates did go up, but you have to take the good with the bad. It was one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done."
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at:
ateutsch@sharonherald.com