The Greenville Municipal Authority is shelling out $23,000 for the water pump it installed in November that has yet to work properly.

Basic Services Inc., the Zelienople-based contractor that supplied and installed the authority's newest water-intake pump, sent the authority an invoice for $60,239 for its services.

Acting on the advice of its former engineering firm, the water authority board Tuesday agreed to pay $23,600 for the pump, the price Basic Services originally bid for the project, said board Chairman Dick Miller.

The pump was installed Nov. 7 and worked for about an hour before it stopped. It was sent back to be rebuilt, and since then has been running at about 80 percent of its capacity.

Also Tuesday, the board said it was ordered to buy a new backup pump or face unspecified fines from the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Tom Thompson of Harrisburg-based Gannett Fleming, the authority's new engineering firm. Thompson said he was contacted Feb. 5 and told the new pump must be ordered by Feb. 6.

The authority already had plans in place to buy a new pump, and Thompson said cleaning devices would be added to the new pump to avoid problems that occurred with the pump from Basic Services.