SCRANTON, Pa. — City leaders in Scranton are busy dealing with the aftermath of water main breaks that have plagued hundreds of residents and several businesses over the last two weeks.
All water services were restored early this morning, and Scranton officials are looking to take steps to correct an issue that’s happened twice within the last 10 days.
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“I know that we’re all worried this could happen again. We don’t want that to happen to our businesses; we don’t want that to happen to our residents,” says Mayor Cognetti.
Following the second water main break in downtown Scranton in 10 days, Mayor Paige Cognetti held a press conference to discuss how the city plans to prevent further issues with the water system.
Mayor Cognetti says replacing outdated water mains as quickly as possible will be a priority for the city.
“We need help from the corporate leadership of PWC to understand that Scranton cannot sustain water mains that are 140 years old.”
Along with fixing water infrastructure, city administrators’ other goal: to give economic relief to businesses and residents of Scranton.
“We want to see relief for our businesses and our residents downtown, and we want to prioritize these projects that PA American Water is doing,” says Thomas Schuster, City Council President.
Because the water main breaks were so disruptive to local businesses, city council has proposed reimbursing businesses whose income took a hit because of the main break.
“If we could have conversations on how some of these businesses could be reimbursed for loss of revenue that they incurred throughout these could be a great place to start,” proposes Patrick Flynn, City Council Vice-President.
The city says increased water rates are not an option, since they would put businesses and residents at a loss.
“I don’t want to hear that we have folks making money in some other state in a corporate boardroom while we are sustaining losses and people’s businesses aren’t open,” says Mayor Cognetti. “We are agile, we are creative, and we will figure out a way with our partners that you see here to help folks as best as we can.”
City Council has also suggested the idea of programs that offer some relief in case insurance or PA Water cannot cover economic losses brought on by the main break.