The Duncannon water project that has caused multiple shutoffs and a boil advisory for much of town over the past several weeks is nearing completion, engineers said, while borough leaders promise they will update the public as best as possible on its progress.
“We try to minimize the disruptions,” borough engineer Greg Rogalski of Pennoni Associates said. “But there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
Duncannon is knee-deep in multiple water projects, including replacement of mains and, more recently, the aging water valves around town. That part of the project has been particularly important, and unpredictable, officials said.
“We knew it was going to be frustrating,” said Jeffrey Kirkhoff, borough council president at its meeting on Aug. 18. “They don’t know what they’re going to dig up.”
Many of the existing valves being replaced are 40 years old on young side, or significantly older in some cases. The borough is replacing about 75 percent of its valves and adding several more around town. That will improve its ability isolate smaller sections of town for future water work, preventing large or even town-wide water shutoffs and boil advisories. The borough is replacing at least 14 valves. It’s also replacing mains on Cumberland Street and other parts of town.
“This provides us flexibility and redundancy to prevent future outages,” Rogalski said.
Councilman Mike Wolfersberger said he looked over one of the old valves and it was rusted solid. It wouldn’t have worked even if the borough needed to shut it off.
The borough, and others formerly involved with its leadership, have been fielding a lot of questions and concerns from residents.
“There’s a lot of new folks moving in,” said Bob Finnen, a former member of the municipal authority, “and next thing they know, their water is turned off.”
Finnen said he’s fielded a lot of questions and complaints from neighbors who didn’t realize he’s no longer involved with borough leadership. He certainly appreciates why the water system needs to be updated and improved.
“Some of this stuff has been buried longer than you or I’ve been alive,” said the aging Finnen.
Last Wednesday, a resident on High Street named Peggy said her water was shut down as crews worked to replace valves at the intersection of Cumberland and High streets in front of Duncannon Fire Company. She said discolored water has been an issue there for some time and they use bottled water for drinking and cooking.
Rogalski said the valves were being finished last week, as well as the start of new piping, which could wrap up this week.
Borough secretary Kathy Bauer said she too has fielded a lot of calls about the water outages and work. The borough has been posting updates to its website as they become available from engineers and work crews.
“We’re doing our best to put out the reports as we get them,” Bauer said. But she admitted because of the project’s unpredictable nature, one resident’s assessment that the borough’s “crystal ball is a little cloudy” is an astute assessment.
Several years ago, a review of Duncannon’s public utilities estimated there was about $20 million in upgrades needed, Kirkhoff said. The borough has been chipping away at those projects after it stabilized its finances, as was immediately necessary, and as other funding became available. In some cases, the sooner projects are finished, the better.
“Some of that is less expensive to do now,” Kirkhoff said.
And there’s other motivation: the state Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates water systems, has been on Duncannon’s back to get its water losses under control. For the past couple years, the borough has seen steady, above-normal losses of the water its wells produce. Last month, that water loss was 45 percent, or more than double the average losses that are considered normal, according to Kevin Hoch with Pennsylvania Environmental Services Inc., the borough’s water operator.
But the borough isn’t done just yet with water utility projects. Upgrades to a couple of its wells are almost complete, but it will also be replacing water meters in the borough, as well as more mains next year.
Councilman Roger Williams said the borough has replaced more than 100 meters already. There are many more to do.
Additional funding is rolling in to help with the water projects. State Sen. John DiSanto’s office announced on Aug. 17 that multiple Perry County municipalities would be receiving state grants for similar utility projects. Duncannon will receive a $500,000 matching grant through the H20 PA program to use for its water projects.
Even with added money, and several big projects nearing completion, Duncannon still has a lot of work to do on its aging water system. And its asking for patience from residents because the end result will be a better system.
“I wish I could say when this is done, we won’t have to shut your water off,” Kirkhoff said. “But that’s not realistic. We’ll have to do it again.”
Jim T. Ryan can be reached via e-mail at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com
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