SOUTHINGTON - It's been more than a year since Aqua Ohio received permission from the state to add Southington to its service territory. But waterlines still are no closer to the township center, and residents still collect rain and haul in water to make up for dried-up and poisoned wells.
"I get really disgusted at shower time," said Fran Strock, wife of the township fire chief and a 35-year resident of Southington.
The family has two pumps in their basement: one for the cistern and one for their shallow well.
"When you take a shower, it all depends on which pump kicks on first: If it's the well, you burn. If it's the cistern, you freeze. But I guess that's not too bad in summer time."
They buy their drinking water from the grocery store. They get water delivered and also route rain water into their cistern, mostly for showers and cleaning. Their well water they save for cooking.
"When I wash clothes, I have to wash one load and dry it, then wait for the well to fill back up so I can wash another load," she said. "I grew up on a farm, and we had a well. We never had to worry about this."
Township Trustee Sam Plott said trustees are working through mountains of bureaucratic red tape to try to find a solution. His own well is deep enough to provide a steady supply, but it's tainted with sulfur so he has to maintain an expensive filtering system to make the water potable.
"We still need grant money to get this project started," he said. "We need to get the lines from the city of Warren to the township. That 2.5 miles is a costly thing to get into the ground."
Costs are estimated at $3 million.
The township is forming a water and sewer district so it can compete for grant funds. State Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, has been working through the state to try to free up money for the township project.
"Access to water is an issue of paramount importance from the health perspective, but also from the economic development standpoint," Cafaro said.
The state capital improvements budget this year was financed by the state going into debt and issuing bonds, and there are strict guidelines as to what the money raised by those bonds can finance, Cafaro said. Sewer and water projects are not among those uses, she said.
However, the state economic stimulus package included $400 million to be used by the district public works commissions. By becoming a water district, Southington could compete for that money, she said.
Al Sauline of Aqua Ohio said the company is trying to put together a financial package to put the pipes in the ground.
"In our experience, one funding source isn't going to do it," Sauline said.
The company has formed coalitions of funding sources to bring water to unserviced areas before, he said, pointing to the Westford Development along Tippecanoe Road in Mahoning County.
The developer, county and Aqua worked together to make the new development work, he said.
"We need to pull everyone's resources together," Sauline said. "We want to bring those concepts to Trumbull County."
