Aqua Pa. asks customers to discontinue nonessential water use

Aqua Pennsylvania is asking customers throughout its southeastern Pennsylvania service area to discontinue nonessential water use until further notice as the utility works to restore normal operations at two major water treatment plants that sustained damage due to the devastating floods caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

Aqua had to shut down its Pickering East and West water treatment plants in Phoenixville due to heavy rainfall, flooding and loss of power.

Aqua has successfully returned a portion of the Pickering East plant online, but as the floodwaters began to subside over the past few hours Thursday, utility professionals have been able to assess the extent of damage, which is greater than previously thought.

Aqua has also issued a boil water advisory for customers in Charlestown and East Whiteland townships.

The utility says it is apparent that it will take some time for full recovery to take place and asks customers to take all possible measures to curtail water use until further notice. Those who have automatic sprinklers were advised to turn them off.

Customers were notified earlier Thursday through emails, voice mails and text messages.

“The remnants of Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc throughout southeastern Pennsylvania,” said Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca. “And our thoughts and prayers are with all of the people devastated by terrible flooding, tornadoes and high winds. Our employees are working tirelessly to restore full water supply to serve the families, businesses and communities who rely on us, and we appreciate our customers’ cooperation by conserving water.”

Aqua is making adjustments in other parts of its interconnected southeastern Pennsylvania water system to increase supply to the Pickering service area, but it will take time to offset the volume of water normally produced at the two plants.

Aqua also advised customers that the utility’s toll-free customer service number is currently out of service due to flood-related issues experienced by its phone vendor.

Customers can visit the Pennsylvania state page of AquaAmerica.com for updates or follow Aqua on Facebook at facebook.com/ MyAquaAmerica and on Twitter at @MyAquaAmerica.

Aqua Pennsylvania serves approximately 1.4 million people in 32 counties throughout Pennsylvania, including Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties.