Water System

Mark Kropilak   Senior vice president of corporate development - i.e. the growth guy - for Aqua America, the water utility holding company based in Bryn Mawr. Under Kropilak's steady hand, the company has morphed from regional company to national player, serving more than 2.8 million residents in more than a dozen states. And he's not just a salesman: Kropilak, his wife and two teenage sons live in Valley Forge, in an Aqua-serviced area. No Brita water filters at his house: He joked that the water is so pure, "I don't even use a cup. " How he got into the water game: Kropilak was first driven by legal aspirations.

Hulmeville's new water system probably won't be in operation until around July. Ferdinand Reetz, chairman of the Hulmeville Borough Water and Sewer Authority, had hoped the system would be ready by May 1, but "I really don't think it's going to happen that quick," he said at the Wednesday night meeting. When completed, the $1 million system will provide access to public water to the two-thirds of the borough's residents who currently use well-water. Water authority officials had no information on the exact number of meters needed or whether they will be paid for by the borough or by residents.

Nearly 300 Hulmeville Borough residents will soon be able to tap into the public water system for a $45 fee. The Hulmeville Borough Council agreed Monday night to get the ball rolling on hooking up residents' homes to the public water supply. The decision will affect residents who rely on wells for their water, which is about two-thirds of the borough households. Each household will have to pay $20 for a plumbing permit and $25 for a plumber's inspection. Details of the new water system were tentatively scheduled to be discussed by the borough's water authority last night.

In a unanimous vote at its Monday night meeting, the New Hope Borough Council authorized borough officials to negotiate with Condor Properties on a proposed water system at a planned development next to Village 2. The system would ultimately become the property of the borough. Condor wants to build 525 condominium units, to be called The Crest at New Hope, next to the more-than-300-unit Village 2 in the southeastern sector of the borough. There is not enough water pressure or volume to permit hooking up to the existing system.

The $1.95 million bond issue included in Phoenixville's 1990 budget is designed to finance major improvements next year in the water and sewer systems, according to borough manager Bill Herman. Expensive but needed capital projects such as the replacement of water mains, tank repairs and removal of sludge from the sewer and water plants have been given short shrift under previous administrations, Herman said. "We're trying to cope with growth, and we've got to have a solid foundation on which to build.

Five years ago, then-newly appointed Phoenixville Borough manager William P. Herman made a decision to bring into the modern age one of the municipality's biggest dinosaurs - its drinking water system. Parts of the cast-iron infrastructure, built in 1872, had fallen into disrepair after decades of little maintenance and much neglect. That had begun to noticeably affect the quality of the water, so much so that the popular opinion in Phoenixville was that the water was no good to drink.

Aqua America Inc., Bryn Mawr, said today that it paid $126,000 to buy a water system serving the Dancing Bear subdivision in Medina County, Texas, near San Antonio. The development's population is expected to grow from 200 people to 2,000 as it builds out.     - Andrew Maykuth

Buckingham officials are seeking to block a proposed privately owned water system to serve up to 1,898 new homes in the township's northwestern corner. Most of the homes will be built on farmland for which a Bucks County Court judge granted development rights in 1976 as a "curative amendment" to what the court had ruled was a municipal zoning ordinance that unlawfully excluded so-called affordable or high-density housing in the township. In a filing Monday with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in Harrisburg, the township's Board of Supervisors urged dismissal of an application by Buckingham Water Co. Inc. to operate a water system to serve several curative-amendment subdivisions to be built along Cold Spring Creamery Road.

The Gloucester City Council unanimously approved a $1.5 million bond issue last night for rehabilitating the city's water system. Under a state mandate of earlier this year, the city must spend $1.5 million to improve its water system by building a new water-storage tank, redrilling one of its wells and replacing water mains by the beginning of 1989, according to Councilman John Brandt, chairman of the city's Water Department. The current system, built in the early 1900s, is deteriorating.

Hulmeville residents will have to wait a little longer for their new water system. The $1 million system, originally to be completed by May, was pushed back to early this month but still has not been finished. "I'm hopeful for sometime in July, (but) I have no idea," said Ferdinand Reetz, Hulmeville Borough Water Authority chairman, at Wednesday night's water authority meeting. The main reason for the delay is that master water meters have not arrived. They must be inspected and tested before being put into use. Reetz said he expected the borough to have the master meters within the next two weeks.

THIS IS A letter in response to the editorial "Liquid Assets: A bottled-water ban has merit, but it's not crystal clear. " I sincerely congratulate the Daily News for having published an article which so articulately elucidates the problems of allowing national parks to continue to sell bottled water. As the article states, when discussing the issue of the sale of bottled water, there inevitably gets asked the question of whether water should be seen and treated federally as a human right.

Independence National Historical Park should embrace the virtues of another priceless public asset with Philadelphia roots: tap water. Last week, the group Corporate Accountability International began urging prominent national parks to stop sales of bottled water within their boundaries on the grounds that "one national treasure (our parks) shouldn't be used to sell another (our water). " The National Park Service lets each of its parks decide whether to ban bottled water, and several have done so. While a few more parks wouldn't make much of a dent in the behemoth bottled-water industry, they could lead the way in encouraging the public to drink the water we already own. Independence National Park is in the right place to promote public water and its accompanying benefits.

American Water Works' Pennsylvania subsidiary acquired two water systems in northeast Pennsylvania for $1.65 million, adding about 640 accounts or about 1,700 people to its existing water system. Pennsylvania American Water purchased the system of the Indian Rocks Property Owners Association, serving approximately 465 households in Salem Township, Wayne County. In Lackawanna County, the company acquired the Olwen Heights Water Company, which serves about 175 accounts in Roaring Brook Township.

In the Region   Reps don't want knives on planes   U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, a Philadelphia Democrat, said he and other House members would press the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to reverse its decision allowing knives on passenger airplanes. A group of lawmakers including Reps. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.), and Michael Grimm (R., N.Y.) said they would send a "formal bipartisan letter" to TSA Administrator John Pistole urging the agency to reconsider its policy permitting passengers to carry small knives and sporting equipment, such as golf clubs and toy baseball bats, in carry-on luggage.

Abbey Color Inc., a Philadelphia industrial-dye manufacturer, has been sent a warning letter by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying it has failed to ensure adequate purity of the water in an eye-examination product it makes. Fluorescein is a sterile liquid dye used in assessing blood flow in the retina and choroid at the back of the eye. The warning letter said the FDA inspected the company facility on East Tioga Street in the city's Kensington section March 13 to 23. The company's reply to the FDA's observations was not acceptable, the agency said.

TOKYO - Japan's crippled nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store tens of thousands of tons of highly contaminated water used to cool the broken reactors, the manager of the water-treatment team said. About 200,000 tons of radioactive water - enough to fill more than 50 Olympic-size swimming pools - are being stored in hundreds of gigantic tanks built around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. has already chopped down trees to make room for more tanks and predicts the volume of water will more than triple within three years.

IT'S BEEN three months since a massive water main break flooded the basement of Cliff Eyler's southwest Center City home, and he's still assessing the value of his lost belongings. But he counts himself lucky. Eyler, 55, said his biggest regret is losing his massive CD collection - mainly the boxes and liner notes, since he'd saved the music digitally. Beyond that, he is philosophical. "It gave us a chance to assess where we are and where we're going," said Eyler, a longtime resident, who expects reimbursement from the city.

The beauty of Barnegat Bay hides the fact that it is a sick body of water. Keeping it from getting sicker will require stronger pollution and development controls and repairs to the county's storm-water system. Storm water carrying fertilizers, animal waste, heavy metals, oils, trash, and other materials flows into the bay, choking the life out of it. The pollutants are unwelcome by-products of suburban growth in Ocean County, where the population has grown from 107,000 in 1960 to 570,000.

IS THERE something in the water? City workers were mopping up Wednesday after the city's third water-main break in 10 days. Early in the morning, a nearly 100-year-old main burst, flooding the area around Front and Tioga streets in North Philadelphia. Millions of gallons of water have poured into the streets because of main breaks in recent days. Crews are still cleaning up from a massive main break that occurred 11 days ago at 21st and Bainbridge streets in Southwest Center City.

IF MAYOR NUTTER needed proof to back up his claims that Philadelphia could use more federal infrastructure dollars, he got it Sunday when a 100-year-old water main erupted in Southwest Center City, sending rivers of water gushing through the streets, forcing a massive evacuation and flooding many homes. "This is a little bit of a larger story. When we talk about infrastructure … it's all the stuff you don't see," Nutter said Monday, standing just feet from the gaping hole at 21st and Bainbridge streets.