The people of west Ferguson Township have faced water hardships for years. As this Spotlight PA story shows, the local water company, Rock Springs, has been running with low water pressure, frequent outages & boil water notices, crumbling pipes, and an inordinately high leak rate that violates the law. Despite regular complaints, attempts at discussions between the Department of Environmental Protection, Ferguson Township, the State College Borough Water Authority, and rate payers, nothing has happened.
When I was on the Ferguson Board, we broached this subject after another finding that Rock Springs had a 70% leak rate. We broached the topic again after boil water notices. We broached the topic after seeing places on residential streets where Rock Springs had patched pavement after punching holes to fix leaking pipes. But there are so many leaks that you might as well put finger band aids on a landmine victim. It won’t work.
What happened? Nothing. Because the people who can actually force a change will not. Ferguson Township government had no statutory authority to force a change.
Mr. Campbell, who owns Rock Springs was not communicative. He could fix the situation by selling the company to the State College Borough Water Authority (SCBWA), turning a liability into an asset.
The Public Utility Commission could force a sale. “Customers have reported billing issues to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and regulators with the Department of Environmental Protection have levied dozens of violations against the company for failing to monitor and promptly report contaminants. Records show the company corrects most violations, only to reoffend.” With a 70% leak rate, it is just a matter of time before there is a catastrophic system failure.
Rate payers could organize and petition the PUC to act. It would cost them 50% more per month to get on an SCBWA system. But as I say in the story, “The sentiment [is] that everybody would like it to be better. But [do] they want to pay a whole bunch more for more reliable water?” [I served as the Vice Chair and Chair of the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors from 2016-2019.] On this, Kerry Benninghoff and I agree. He said, “People want better quality, better service, but that generally means it’s going to take more money to get that. It doesn’t matter what the utility is.” There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Infrastructure costs money.
This situation needs to change. Which of the three parties is going to budge? Rock Springs? The PUC? The ratepayers? Seems to me that someone who represents the people of Ferguson Township should be brave, take some leadership, and solve some problems.
Who’s it going to be?
Peter Walks for Democracy 