Thursday, November 24, 2005
Warren has made its first deal with a private water company.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Mahoning Valley Sanitary District representatives lobbied Trumbull County commissioners to take steps to prevent private water companies from gaining a larger share of the county's water services.
"Water should remain public," said Tom Holloway, chief engineer with the MVSD. The MVSD provides wholesale treated water to Youngstown, Niles and McDonald for resale to their customers. About 300,000 people use MVSD water.
Holloway said Wednesdayhe opposes such private-sector growth mainly because of what he contends are higher prices charged by Aqua Ohio Inc., a private water company and MVSD's primary competitor.
Recently Aqua Ohio approached Southington Township trustees with the possibility of extending a waterline from Enterprise Drive at the north end of Warren to the center of Southington Township.
Warren officials agreed to sell 300,000 gallons a day of treated city water to Aqua Ohio. It is the first business deal between the city and a private water company.
"There's plenty of water out there," said Matthew Blair, one of the MVSD directors, adding that MVSD is selling water at just 58 percent of its capacity. "The issue is how to get waterlines out there."
Helping itself
Blair has said the MVSD board must broaden its water customer base to help fund capital improvements, and must educate the public about what it can offer as opposed to Aqua Ohio.
Blair said he would like to see the county do everything it can to extend waterlines in the county to prevent Aqua Ohio from controlling a greater share of the county's water services.
"Water is a valuable asset. We need to look at the long-term needs of the area," Blair said.
As an example, he said, the county needs to be able to offer water to businesses as an incentive to locate in the county.
MVSD is prohibited by law from negotiating with individual customers for water sales. It must deal directly with the member cities. However, member cities can extend their lines and increase customer base.
Aqua's interests
Last week Albert Sauline, Aqua's vice president for governmental relations and division manager, said Aqua is potentially interested in other ventures similar to the one in Southington.
"We're interested in helping the county develop a water system to bring in residential and commercial development," he said.
Aqua's rates are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and compare favorably with rates of other area water suppliers, Sauline said.
Aqua would fund the Southington line's construction using its own money and, most likely, state or federal loans or grants, he said.
Braceville Trustee Dennis Kuchta said after the presentation that he doesn't blame Southington trustees for negotiating a water deal. Kuchta said he thinks it takes the county a long time to extend waterlines.
For example, he asked Gary Newbrough, the county sanitary engineer, how much longer it would take for a waterline to be brought to Robinson Road in Braceville. Newbrough said the project will go to bid in six to eight weeks.
Kuchta said he's been hearing estimates like that for years.
runyan@vindy.com