Legal Battles Loom Over Castanea’s Unresolved Water Leaks
By Emily Wright
LOCK HAVEN—A simmering dispute between the Lock Haven City Council and Castanea Township residents over unresolved water leaks and flooding issues came to a head during Monday night’s city council meeting.
Despite repeated pleas and documented evidence, the city council failed to discuss the ongoing problems impacting multiple properties in Castanea. Correspondence regarding these issues was listed under “Unfinished Business,” but council members provided only brief remarks, prompting two frustrated Castanea residents to speak up at the end of the meeting.
The “Unfinished Business” portion of the agenda for the meeting included “May 22 Correspondence from Castanea Township regarding water system and response”. This comes after several Castanea residents had addressed the council at three prior meetings regarding flooding on their properties.
City Council members were provided copies of letters sent between the Castanea Township Supervisors and the city before Monday night’s meeting; however, the letters were mentioned during the meeting, but not discussed in any detail, leaving the public uninformed about the current status of the water situation. “The only thing I will add is the anomaly that Fluid Pinpoint Services believed that they had perhaps detected at 14 Keller [Street], which was excavated today by the city crew, and found that it is not a piece of city infrastructure, but an old stormwater inlet with a pipe that was full of water belonging to Castanea Township,” City Manager Greg Wilson said.
Tim and Stephanie Fulger, residents of 14 W. Keller Street, were present, and at the very end of the meeting, Tim addressed the council because he could not hear what was said regarding the water issues in Castanea. When the couple questioned council members about the water issues in the township, City Manager Greg Wilson confirmed that not much had been said “because of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) case filed by 14 W. Keller”, which was the first that any mention of legal proceedings regarding the water issues in Castanea was mentioned during the meeting Monday night.
“What I can say is that the anomaly that was found by Fluid Pinpoints Services was not from the city water infrastructure. It was from infrastructure belonging to Castanea Township. It is an old stormwater inlet, and the pipe underground is full of water. That is not city water, though,” Wilson restated.
According to Tim, the water crew spent all day at his property while he was at work, and they dug a sizeable hole in his yard in addition to taking the water meter out. He said that what he finds discouraging is that no one provided any notifications or updates about the work that had been done that day. “I came home to a pile of rocks in my yard, but there was no communication,” he said.
Stephanie expressed concern that the water crew had excavated the large hole in their yard and filled it with rocks. “They took all of our topsoil away, and I want that topsoil back because I don’t intend to fill that with rocks and just slap some dirt over top of it,” she said. “They should have set it aside instead of taking the dirt away and filling it with rocks.” Stephanie added that the crew “did a poor job” after explaining other details about what had been left behind after the work was completed.
“He’s [Greg Wilson] saying that there’s an anomaly underground, but I beg to differ. This is a different leak because water is clearly coming diagonal from us into our yard,” Stephanie said. “The city has been saying all along that that isn’t a leak because this woman has a sump pump, but she doesn’t even have a basement, let alone a sump pump. We spoke with her, and so it’s not a sump pump leaking in that yard and making this water come down the street. That leak over there needs to be addressed; it’s coming down over into my yard.”
Council member Richard Conklin replied, “From the report that was given, the leaks were checked by three different companies over there, and it’s not a water leak.” Stephanie again attempted to explain what she and her husband have been experiencing on their property but was interrupted by Conklin, who told her that she could “beg to differ any way she likes; it is not a water leak.”
It was at this point that Greg Wilson announced the legal proceedings that are in order. “The owners of 14 West Keller have filed, and we received notice today, a case in front of the Public Utility Commission, which will be heard under an administrative law judge,” he said. “This is a trial. I would caution council not to comment on a pending trial. We have information returning, as requested, to PUC tomorrow.”
Mayor Joel Long added, “No offense, but we are done discussing it because it is a legal issue now.”
Prior to Monday night’s meeting, the Castanea Township Supervisors sent a letter to the city on May 22, 2024, about the ongoing water leaks and flooding in Castanea. The letter addressed ongoing issues with water leaks and flooding in the township that are causing property damage at multiple residences. The township supervisors pointed out a previous letter sent to them from the City, dated April 17, 2024, and highlighted discrepancies and concerns that they assert were not properly addressed.
“You state that there are no water main breaks or detected leaks. However, the City Water Department was on site at the corner of Mackey Avenue and Keller Street on April 23, 2024, and detected a leak,” Castanea Township Supervisors stated in the letter.
Township supervisors claim that the City Water Department dug a hole at the corner of Mackey Avenue and Keller Street on April 23. A small leak was found, but it isn’t the source of the major leak that continues to flood a Brown Street resident’s yard, among others. “This hole has not been properly patched over yet. In fact, the hole is a concern for drivers and pedestrians. The City should promptly fix this before an accident occurs,” the supervisors said.
The supervisors also mentioned the city’s claim of a water discharge coming from a sump pump at a residence on West Keller Street in Castanea and further stated that there is no sump pump at that residence.
In a letter sent from the city to Castanea Township on April 17, 2024, City Manager Greg Wilson stated, “There is no water main on Mackey [Avenue] between W. Keller and W. Brown [Streets] as shown on the attached map. Leak detection was on W. Keller at 14, 117, 121, and 130 W. Keller. No leaks were detected; however, a large discharge from a sump pump at 121 W. Keller was noted.” The minutes from the May 6 City Council meeting that followed the letter sent to Castanea Township reflect this information, stating, “The city’s [water] crew did note a large discharge into the street from a property owner’s sump pump, which may be the culprit of the water on the other properties.”
According to the supervisors, the following Castanea homes are still being affected by the ongoing water issues:
– 14 W Keller Street: Water in the yard.
– 221 Mackey Avenue: Water surrounding a utility pole.
– 222 Mackey Avenue: Water emerging from the street.
– 103 Rear Brown Street: Water in the yard.
– 522 Grape Street: Water is coming out from the bottom of the electrical box.
– 503 W Brown Street: water is seen coming out of a conduit next to a utility pole in addition to water that is flowing into the yard.
“We are receiving calls from residents who have stated that they have contacted the City Water Department on a daily basis, with no resolution,” Castanea Township Supervisors stated in their letter to the city. They questioned what steps the city plans to take to correct the water issues and asserted that the need to outsource work to fix the ongoing problem is evident.
The township supervisors closed their letter by requesting that the city keep them informed of the timeline for permanent patching.
In response, City Manager Greg Wilson sent a letter to the Castanea Township on June 13, 2024, addressing the ongoing water concerns. Wilson stated in his letter that leak detections were carried out multiple times by the City, the Beech Creek Borough Authority, and Fluid Pinpointing Services, a leak detection company hired by the city however, Wilson claims that no leaks were detected. He claims that since then, the city has performed more leak detection in the same areas and has received the same results, with the exception of an issue discovered by Fluid Pinpointing Services relating to the fitting at the entry to the meter pit located at 14 W. Keller Street. “That is scheduled to be reviewed on Monday, June 17. This issue, however, is not a significant one, and not one capable of producing an extensive flow of water that would impact multiple properties,” Wilson said in the letter.
Wilson stated that the issue at 503 W. Brown Street was caused by a lateral line leak from a neighboring property (1 Greenwood Avenue), not the city’s water main, and added that the city sent a letter to the resident at Greenwood Avenue about the problem on May 23, 2024. The property owner is given 30 days to complete necessary repairs by law, however, the property owner’s family requested that the water be shut off instead, as it is currently vacant. “So, while it is correct that 503 W. Brown waited from May 23 to June 3 for the leak to be addressed, it was the neighboring property owner, not the city, that failed to get the repair completed in a timely manner,” Wilson wrote.
Wilson outlined the steps on how the city handles leaks when they are reported. He claims that after a report of a leak is received by the city’s utility (water) office, the office opens a work order for the reported site and notifies the water crew. The water crew then conducts leak detection at the site with loggers, the ground mic, visual inspection, or a combination.
If no leak is detected, it is logged as “investigated but not verified.” Conversely, if a leak is detected on the customer’s lateral, a letter is sent immediately to notify the customer that they have 30 days to repair the leak or face termination of water services.
If a leak is detected on the city’s main, a PA-1 call is made to begin the process of repairing the leak. Wilson claims that if the PA-1 call is treated as an emergency, repair work “could begin” two hours from the time of placing the call to PA-1. ”If the 1Call can not treated as an emergency, the city must wait three days for the 1Call to clear to begin the process of repair. All repaired leaks are reported to PA DEP as part of the city’s Chapter 110 annual report,” Wilson wrote.
The remaining steps of the process involve completing the required back-filling of excavation according to the municipality’s ordinance standards. The site is then added to the annual patching project inventory for final paving restoration.
Wilson acknowledged that the existing process of handling leaks when they are reported does not include a return phone call or any other correspondence to the customer who made the report to the city, and further stated, “That process has been rectified, and the city’s utility (water) office will now be providing an update to the individual who reported the leak after the investigation is made.”
Regarding Castanea Township’s question about the patching of excavations, Wilson reported that the city is currently receiving bids for the 2024 patching project, which includes at least 10 sites in Castanea Township that were impacted by water main leak repairs in the previous year. He said that the city council intends to award the contract for the 2024 patching project during its regular meeting on Monday, July 1, 2024.
