Aqua plans to join MABS system with existing Roaring Creek system
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Aqua Pennsylvania's Roaring Creek facility on Route 54 in Coal Township, near Elysburg, on Dec. 26, 2022.
SHENANDOAH – Shenandoah’s water system will be intertwined with the system serving a large swath of the Susquehanna Valley, including Shamokin, Mount Carmel, Aristes, and Girardville, if Aqua Pennsylvania’s acquisition is approved.
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The borough signed the agreement with Aqua, of Bryn Mawr, one of the largest private water companies in the nation, last year to sell the Municipal Authority of the Borough of Shenandoah for $12 Million.
Aqua’s Roaring Creek system has reservoirs and a treatment plant near Elysburg and, statewide, the company serves serves about 448,000 customers across 32 counties.
MABS serves about 2,900 customers in the borough, West Mahanoy Township, and parts of Butler Township and Girardville.
Stephen Clark, Director of Operations for Aqua’s Greater Pennsylvania service area, told the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission that the Bryn Mawr-based company “envisions interconnecting the MABS System with Aqua’s Roaring Creek water system.”
“Interconnecting the existing MABS and Aqua Roaring Creek distribution systems will result in additional redundancy and improved water quality for customers of both water systems,” Clark told regulators. “Having multiple sources of water supply coming from multiple flow directions will offer operational flexibility during maintenance, fire flow, flushing, and emergency events.”
The two systems, Clark said, overlap on East Mahanoy Avenue in Girardville, and he described the Roaring Creek’s treatment plant and administrative offices as “close” to Shenandoah Borough. The plant is 20 miles from the borough by car.
The distance, he said, would “provide seamless integration of the MABS system into Aqua’s well establish system.”
Clark also said MABS customers would benefit from Aqua’s customer owned lead service line replacement program.
MABS does not have such a program, Clark said, and replacement of such lines is the responsibility of the customer. He did say that MABS replaces authority-owned lead service lines when they are found, although the extent of lead service lines in the MABS system is not known.
Clark also said MABS customers would see a turn-on fee reduction. He said MABS charges $123, while Aqua charges $50 during normal business hours.
Read Clark’s Testimony Here
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