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DEP added as defendant in lawsuit against East Dunkard Water Authority

By Mike Jones 3 min read
article image - Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
This file photo shows the East Dunkard Water Authority’s treatment plant along Route 88 near Dilliner.

More than 50 Greene County residents, who are suing East Dunkard Water Authority claiming poor water quality led to a myriad of health issues, have added state environmental regulators to the lawsuit alleging they failed to protect them.

The lawsuit originally filed in late October was amended Thursday to include the state Department of Environmental Protection as a defendant, accusing it of not properly regulating the troubled water authority in southeastern Greene County, along with allowing pollution to enter nearby waterways.

It alleges that the DEP was negligent in its oversight of the water authority and treatment plant, while also claiming it “breached” its duty under the federal Clean Water Act and state Clean Streams Law to limit discharges into the state’s rivers and streams.

The lawsuit asserts that there are 10 “inventoried sites” listed as abandoned mine problems in the vicinity of the Grays Lock and Dam along the Monongahela River, including nine discharge sites. The water authority pulls in water from the river near that area, which the lawsuit claims is polluted from mine drainage and the dumping of fracking waste fluid into Dunkard Creek, which led to a massive fish kill in 2009. It also alleges that contaminated water contributed to the increase in erosion of lead pipes in the distribution system.

“Polluted mine drainage can be extremely acidic and is often laden with high concentrations of toxic, heavy metals,” the lawsuit states. “In general, the more acidic the water, the more likely it is to be harmful to living organisms. The abandoned mine land fund sites as aforementioned also attribute to the turbidity issues.”

The water authority has dealt with issues for years, culminating with numerous boil water advisories in 2022 and 2023, and the total shutdown of the system following a malfunction at the treatment plant in late October, leading to customers being without water for several days. That prompted the DEP to request an emergency receivership in which Pennsylvania American Water Company, which agreed to purchase EDWA for $5 million last July, would take over immediate control of the system. The court-ordered receivership went into effect in February, although the sale has not been finalized since it still must be approved by the state Public Utility Commission.

The lawsuit contends DEP’s actions came too late, leaving residents to deal with poor water quality for years before the change in operations.

“Almost all of the plaintiffs contacted the Commonwealth, by writing and by phone, on numerous occasions giving notice to the Commonwealth of the health condition suffered by the plaintiffs, the dark and discolored water at the tap, the foul odors, the lack of boiled water notices, the lack of water stop usage notices, the periods of no potable water, the excessively high chlorine content in the water, lead levels in the water, and other health and water related issues,” the lawsuit alleges about the DEP. “The Commonwealth has failed to communicate with the plaintiffs concerning the aforementioned issues.”

A DEP spokeswoman declined to comment Friday due to the ongoing litigation. Marc Valentine, the Somerset-based attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.

In addition to East Dunkard and the DEP, Harshman CE Group LLC engineering firm, Allan’s Waste Water Service and “John Doe” defendants from the state’s Abandoned Mine Land Fund are also named. Consol Energy, CNX Resources, DuPont and Chemours Company, which were named in the original lawsuit, have since been removed.

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