Feb 6, 2013 2 min read

GREENSBORO – In light of the ongoing issues with water service in the Greensboro and Glassworks areas, Greene County commissioners today will consider making a contribution to the Dunkard Valley Municipal Authority to help alleviate an emergency situation with water delivery.

Service outages have become fairly common for the authority during the last few months. There have been about 20 leaks to repair since October.

The authority’s problem is that its distribution lines are old and the authority, which has only about 500 customers in Greensboro, Glassworks, Penn Pitt, Cabbage Flats and Mapletown, has limited resources to replace them.

The system was originally constructed by Duquesne Light Co., which operated the nearby Warwick Mine, and was later turned over to the authority. Most of the system’s distribution lines were installed in the late 1940s and need to be replaced.

The authority has made some recent upgrades to its treatment plant but it doesn’t have the resources to replace the distribution lines. The authority engineer has estimated replacing the 20,000 feet of old line that should be replaced will costs about $1.5 million.

On several days the small authority has had two lines to repair, and one day it had three, he said. During recent outages, customers could get potable water at water buffaloes set up at the Greensboro fire hall, Cornerstone Care and Mapletown High School.

The authority ended last year only about $12,000 to $15,000 in the black. The authority was “one major (line) break away from disaster,” said Vic Shine, a member of the Dunkard Valley Municipal Authority.

Shine said the immediate concern is to raise about $25,000 to $30,000 to replace one section of line that has been constant trouble. “That ought to eliminate a lot of our problems,” he said.

The authority has discussed a possible merger with the East Dunkard Water Authority, which is expected to present the authority with a proposal regarding a merger.

The commissioners also are expected to accept a bid for renovations for the swimming pool at Wana B Park in Carmichaels.

In October, the commissioners learned that major repairs were necessary. Jake Blaker, director of the county’s recreation department, had reported significant damage has occurred to the gutter system around the pool. He said the pool has settled over time, cracking the welds in the gutters that has caused leakage.