By Marley Parish of Spotlight PA State College
BELLEFONTE — A troubled rural water company under investigation by state regulators now faces additional legal action from its own lawyers, who want it to be taken over by a municipal authority.
Months after Rock Spring Water Company owner J. Roy Campbell told a judge he would rather sell his business and avoid a lengthy process by state regulators to force an acquisition, his attorneys have asked a Centre County court to hand over interim operations to the nearby State College Borough Water Authority.
Attorneys James Bryant and Carolyn Larrabee were hired by Campbell last fall after the Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, an independent division within the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, launched a review of the privately owned company.
A June Spotlight PA investigation found that years of neglect have resulted in crumbling infrastructure that causes low water pressure, outages, and boil water advisories for the 1,000 customers who rely on the 20-mile system for service.
A 2022 engineering report estimated that the current system needs $13.5 million in repairs.
The company has also racked up regulatory violations and tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid civil penalties as part of an ongoing legal battle with the Department of Environmental Protection over excessive water loss.
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