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Jon Hurdle/StateImpact
Benjamin Eckert, a resident of Chester County’s West Whiteland Township, with some 30 cases of bottled water that Sunoco had delivered to his house after water from his well turned cloudy. Sunoco is drilling nearby for the planned Mariner East 2 pipeline, and hit the aquifer from which Eckert and his neighbors draw their water. |
Jon Hurdle reports for StateImpact:
Sunoco Pipeline agreed on Tuesday to pay for public water to be supplied to about 30 homes in Chester County’s West Whiteland Township where water from private wells turned cloudy after a Sunoco pipeline drilling operation for the Mariner East 2 resulted in loss of water pressure or cloudy water for some residents, a township official said.
The company made the commitment at a meeting with township officials on Tuesday morning, said George Turner, a township supervisor. The homes will be connected to the local water line operated by Aqua America.
Turner said details such as how long it would take to make the connections and how long the affected households will be supplied with bottled water or extra filtration systems have yet to be worked out, but that residents will be sent letters explaining the changes later Tuesday.
“We have reached resolution with Sunoco that they will bring public water to all of the affected homes,” he said.
Turner said the company had opted to convert the homes to public water because of an expectation that private well water would remain cloudy.
“It’s going to continue to give the people cloudy water and they are never going to be satisfied,” he said. “We want them to have what they had before Sunoco ever came to town.”
Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields said he expects the water impacts to be temporary. He said the company notified West Whiteland Township on June 22 that “groundwater was returning to the surface at our drill site.”
“It is not uncommon for a drill to encounter groundwater, but that does not always translate to well water issues,” wrote Shields in an email. “When the first indications of well water problems came in on July 3 we suspended drilling and grouted the bore hole to fill in any entry points for water – an approved process for addressing these issues – and moved to accommodate residents with water and lodging as desired.”
West Whiteland Supervisor George Turner said that Sunoco informed township officials and the Department of Environmental Protection on June 26 that crews “hit a spring” during drilling for the Mariner East 2 pipeline, which will cross the township on its route from southwest Pennsylvania to Marcus Hook in Delaware County.
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