Water effort flowing again
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The temporary shutdown of a church-run water bank which serves nearly 50 families in the Woodlands Neighborhood had people scrambling to find drinking water, but the effort now is back on amid donations of money and water.
The water bank at the White Oaks Springs Presbyterian Church wasn't planned or organized more than three years ago when the first gallon jugs were carried into a church anteroom.
Pastor Lee Dreyer and church leaders agreed to help after a colleague's son called asking Dreyer for a place to store hundreds of gallon jugs of water.
Dreyer agreed, hardly thinking the jugs would become a permanent fixture at the church. He wasn't yet aware of the Woodlands' problem with drinking water.
“I thought it'd be here for a couple days and we'd move on,” he said.
More than three years later, Dreyer stands in the room that has become White Springs' water bank and tears open a box of gallon water jugs from Crystal Springs.
These are the jugs, which cost the bank $1 each, that are given to nearly 50 Woodlands Neighborhood families every Monday. Most households get 20 gallons each week.
That water is mostly used for cooking and drinking, said Dreyer. But some residents — who are unable to afford the water buffaloes many people pay the Lick Hill Volunteer Fire Company to fill each month — use the water for bathing as well.
Norma Kudamik, 72, of 328 Woodland Drive, is one of those residents. Kudamik, who is a cancer survivor, has lived in the Woodlands since 1980. But it wasn't until 2010 or 2011, she said, that her home's well water turned bad.
Kudamik, whose esophagus was burned during radiation and chemotherapy treatments, cannot eat solid food. She depends on jugs from the water bank for everything from bathing to eating — something she does through a machine. The bank is her only source of fresh water.
“I depend on it. It's my food. It's my life,” she said.
The bank, which started out serving 12 Woodlands families, has grown in size along with the neighborhood's need — something that both pleases and saddens Dreyer. He said the newest addition to the bank's membership came last week, and he expects more people to sign up to receive water as time goes on.“It surprises and disappoints,” Dreyer said of the situation. “We thought this would have a permanent solution, and that hasn't happened.”Cherry Way resident Janet McIntyre and her husband, Fred, were among the first families to join the water bank because that said their tap water was unusable even for washing hands. They muddled through on their own for about a year and a half, buying their own water at the grocery store and training themselves to use less and less before the water bank formed,There has been much debate over what is causing the water quality issues at the Woodlands, which has about 200 homes. Most homes get their water from private wells, though some have no on-site water at all.Many residents blame natural gas drilling for the recent water quality problems.Rex Energy, which has wells near the neighborhood, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have both issued reports saying the company's drilling activities are not to blame.Last year a professor at Duquesne University issued his own report contesting those findings and saying that unconventional gas drilling may have contaminated some residents' water wells.These days the McIntyres, who have been in litigation with Rex Energy for more than two years, get by on 1,500 gallons of water a month — the size of the water buffalo at their home. The Lick Hill fire company fills the tank each month for $100.It's not a comfortable way to live, Janet McIntyre said. Especially in the winter, when unkempt roads can keep the fire company from regular fill-ups.“It's very frustrating to know that you can't just turn that tap on and do what you want with it,” McIntyre said. “There's no extra taking a long shower or nothing like that.”Kudamik has to make hard choices herself. Without a water buffalo she uses jug water to bathe and eat, but does dishes and laundry with her well water — so foul, she says, that it curdles her liquid food if she tries to use it to eat. She doesn't even give her home's tap water to her two dogs to drink.Kudamik said people outside the Woodlands can't understand what it's like living with the problem.“It's just the constant worry of what I'm going to do” if she runs out, Kudamik said. “Unless you've been without, you have no idea how hard it is for us.”Dreyer and the church fight to ensure that the water bank survives. They depend on civic organizations and other churches for the majority of their financial support.Dreyer said he's learned that public consciousness fades in and out quickly on issues like the Woodlands.“You have to keep the issue in front of the people,” Dreyer said.Earlier this year the water bank shut down for the first time after an online crowd funding effort failed to raise enough funds and the water bank ran out of money.The shutdown, which lasted about a month, sent residents like Kudamik scrambling to find drinking water. McIntyre said a neighborhood phone chain many people use when they find themselves running low blew up with requests for help.“My God, it was like a drug,” McIntyre said.Despite the panic, the community never had an incidence of theft or scamming another resident's water supply, Dreyer said. The water bank, which allows residents to pick up their neighbors' supply and deliver it themselves, has never had something like that happen.“Honestly, I believe in the goodness of people,“ Dreyer said. “In this last stint, that has been reinforced.”With the bank back open and funded into early 2016 at least, Dreyer said he's confident another shutdown won't happen soon.The bank also has begun receiving water donations from Giant Eagle in recent weeks. Dreyer is thankful — the 700 gallons of free water represent nearly 2 weeks worth of supplies — but the donations prove their own challenge. The church has no place to store the excess water once freezing weather hits.
