Schools reopen in Greenville as water-plant work continues

GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Schools in the borough reopened today and water reservoir levels continued to rise as the Greenville Municipal Authority worked to overcome a pump failure at its water filtration plant.
The authority's 3,700 customers are still under a "boil water advisory" which means they should boil all drinking and cooking water from the authority's system for three minutes before using it.
The problem began Oct. 26 when a primary water intake pump failed, resulting in an authority advisory to curtail water usage.
Schools were ordered closed for a day Oct. 28 because of low reservoir levels and again Tuesday when a new pump also failed.
An authority spokeswoman said today rental pumps have been used to bring more water into the plant from the Shenango River and reservoir levels raised overnight, allowing schools to reopen.
The authority planned to try to put the new pump back on line late this morning, she said.
The boil water advisory, ordered by the state Department of Environmental Protection, was the result of auxiliary pumping bringing debris from the river into the filtration plant.