Aqua PA Posts Tips On Saving Water As Pickering Plant Is Restored

CHARLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Water conservation is advised as Aqua Pennsylvania is still working to restore its Pickering treatment plant, and though boil alert advisories were clarified over the weekend.

A boil water advisory for Aqua customers was updated on Saturday to apply only to portions of East Whiteland and Charlestown townships. No further update to that advisory has been posted by Aqua Pennsylvania as of early Tuesday afternoon.

On Friday, Aqua had mistakenly sent an advisory to customers located in Malvern, Radnor, Willistown, East Goshen, Schuylkill, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Tredyffrin, West Conshohocken, Easttown, and Newtown Square. On Saturday Aqua clarified that only East Whiteland and Charlestown townships were to have received the alerts.

Water for Charlestown Township residents is being distributed through 7 p.m. Thursday at Charlestown Elementary, Paoli Fire Company, and Berwyn Fire Company. Bring your own container, the Township said.

By Sunday, Aqua's only messaging to customers in the affected areas was a set of tips to save water. The notice came as Aqua Pennsylvania's Pickering water treatment plant recovers from storm damage.

Aqua Pennsylvania encourages customers throughout its southeastern Pennsylvania service area to continue their "efforts to save water until further notice as we work to restore normal operations at our largest water treatment plant, which sustained damage due to the devastating floods caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida," the notice stated.

On Thursday, as Wednesday's heavy rainfall caused rivers and creeks to rise rapidly, Aqua PA announced it had to shut down its Pickering East and West water treatment plants. At that time it asked customers to suspend all nonessential water use until they are notified that adequate water supply has been restored.

On Monday the full recovery of water supply was not yet a reality. "It will take some time for full recovery to take place and we ask customers to take all possible measures to curtail water use until further notice," a Sept. 6 Aqua Pennsylvania notice said.

The company urged customers to pay attention to water usage. Aqua provided these tips to save water:

• Turn off the water when you brush your teeth and shave.
• Take shorter showers.
• Only run washers and dishwashers with full loads.

The company also told customers to sign up for Aqua's WaterSmart alerts, an automated service designed for communication about water quality and service in case of disruption. Aqua’s WaterSmart alerts are delivered by phone, text, or email. Customers can enroll here.

Aqua's interactive map of service disruptions can be accessed here.

Read an earlier story about the Pickering Creek dam flooding, here.

Subscribe to Patch for local storm updates: https://patch.com/subscribe