Residents Complain About New Well on Americus Drive

A group of residents living near a well that is being constructed in Country Club Gardens on Americus Drive in say the new well is a hazard and not what was originally proposed.

The residents turned out for a township commissioners' meeting on Dec. 7 to air their concerns and to seek the commissioners' help in resolving the issue.

Residents said Aqua Pennsylvania, which owns the well, had gotten township zoning board approval to build a new well but that it was to be underground. Instead, they said, the well has been constructed partially above ground, creating not just an eyesore but a hazard.

However, minutes from a June 2009 commissioners' meeting indicate the well, in the rear of a resident's yard, would be about 4 feet above ground. The minutes of the subsequent zoning hearing board were not immediately available. 

At the meeting, Commissioner Dale Daubert said the township is usually criticized for being too stringent, so he questioned how a well could be built that did not fit established criteria.

One resident proposed that the company be directed to build a structure around the well that would conceal it but blend in with the neighborhood.

The commissioners directed township Manager Jon Hammer to look into the matter. 

Aqua Pennsylvania spokeswoman Donna Alston said Tuesday most of the well station is underground, except for mechanical elements -- a generator and a pump control panel. 

She and Pat Burke, regional manager for Aqua Pennsylvania, said the generator needs deisel fuel to run, and therefore, could not be in a confined space. Burke likened it to running a car in a closed garage. He said the pump control panel could not fit inside a vault.

The value of the generator, Burke said, is that families will no longer be without water, should their power go out, as in the past.

He said Aqua Pennsylvania, which purchased the well in November 2006, received the required permits from both South Whitehall and the state Department of Enviromental Protection to reconstruct the well, which serves about 200 homes. 

After the new well is put into operation, the company in the spring plans to do landscaping to try to cover what's above ground, Burke said. He said the lot size is much smaller than one off Walbert Avenue, where a structure was placed around well elements. But even there, he said, the generator is outside the structure.  

The Country Club Gardens project was to include replacement of an existing well station and water storage tank, installation of a new water line to connect the well station and storage tank and the installation of an emergency generator, according to a Bloomberg Business Wire release prior to the start of the project.