Sunday, July 20, 2003
Consumers Water is reviewing the project.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
SOUTHINGTON -- Southington Township trustees hope Consumers Ohio Water Company can bring waterlines to the center of the township, after having given up on efforts to get water through the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer.
"Consumers is going to do everything possible to find a way," said Arthur Magee, who met with trustees on behalf of the private utility. "We will do what we have to do."
This will be the third set of waterlines the company, with local offices in Boardman, has tried to undertake in Trumbull County.
Permission granted
Trumbull County commissioners gave the company permission to build and own a line branching off the county system to serve residents on Richardson Drive in Hubbard, but so far has held off approval for the company to own and operate two lines sought by Liberty trustees. Commissioners' approval would be necessary for the Southington line as well.
In general, waterlines in Trumbull County are owned by the county and financed through the rates paid by people who use them. Officials worried that allowing the private company to own the lines in Liberty could affect the integrity of the county-owned system.
The company has not approached county officials about possible plans in Southington, said county sanitary engineer Tom Holloway.
"We have not seen anything, and when we ask for info in regard to any of their proposals, we don't receive it," Holloway said.
Long contemplation
For years, Southington trustees have contemplated a waterline, most likely being extended from Champion, to serve the school and homes in the township center.
Water for Southington's school has to be pumped from a well about a mile away, said Trustee Daniel L. Tietz.
Some residents near the school drink from cisterns they have filled from trucks, rather use foul-smelling well water, he said.
Trustees circulated petitions calling for a waterline to be built to Southington from Champion along State Road and state Route 305. The effort floundered when an insufficient number of property owners along the path of the waterline signed up.
The sanitary engineer's records say that owners of 53 percent of the frontage signed in favor of the waterline.
Tietz said his recollection was that 68 percent signed.
The sanitary engineer wants 80 percent of landowners to sign before he endorses a project.
Many people who sign a petition will drop out later when they find out what the cost of the waterline will be, Holloway said.
siff@vindy.com