SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Water service has been restored to customers impacted by Monday\u2019s major water main break in downtown Scranton, but city leaders say the conversation is now shifting from recovery to preventing it from happening again.<\/p>\n
The latest break marks the second major water main failure in just 10 days, renewing concerns over the city\u2019s aging underground infrastructure. Some of the water mains beneath downtown Scranton date back to 1885.<\/p>\n
At a Tuesday press conference, Mayor Paige Cognetti said the city is urging Pennsylvania American Water, which owns the pipes, and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to move Scranton\u2019s water infrastructure higher on the priority list for replacement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to continue to push PAW to re-prioritize their list, re-prioritize whatever funding is necessary, working with their leadership at the state level, working with their corporate leadership across the country to make sure that downtown Scranton water mains are fully replaced as quickly as possible because we clearly see that this is an issue, and I know we\u2019re all worried this could happen again,\u201d Cognetti said.<\/p>\n
The water main break forced widespread closures Monday, shutting down businesses, government buildings and roads throughout downtown.<\/p>\n
Although businesses have since reopened, many owners say the financial impact continues.<\/p>\n
Tom Borthwick, owner of The Cidery, co-owner of DaVinci Pizza and a landlord for several downtown apartment buildings, said the latest water emergency came on top of ongoing construction projects that have already made it difficult for businesses to attract customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing for me as someone who has employees, if they\u2019re not working, they\u2019re not making money and they\u2019re not providing a livelihood for their families and we\u2019re not bringing in money to sustain ourselves,\u201d Borthwick said.<\/p>\n
He said business remained slow even after water service returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were open today. It was a ghost town because we\u2019re right center mass here for this problem. People don\u2019t even want to risk coming downtown and that\u2019s compounded by the fact that there\u2019s constant construction and there\u2019s really no communication about when things are going to shut down for how long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Borthwick also said he feels for downtown residents and business owners who continue to deal with repeated disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel absolutely terrible for all the tenants\u2014not just in my building but all throughout downtown. I know there have been efforts that the city and other organizations have been making to try to get people water and help out, but it\u2019s still a massive burden for people who are looking for downtown living.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials say they are now trying to determine the full economic impact of the latest water main break.<\/p>\n
Cognetti announced businesses will receive an intake form Wednesday to report financial losses and damages. The city hopes the information will help determine whether grant funding or other reimbursement options may be available.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first step for us while we try to work this out is going to be an intake form that we will send out publicly tomorrow that will collect some of the data points that will make it easier for businesses, ourselves and others to understand the scope of the loss and the scope of the economic damage and see what we might be able to do,\u201d Cognetti said.<\/p>\n
The mayor also encouraged affected businesses to contact their insurance companies and submit claims through Pennsylvania American Water for lost revenue and economic impacts.<\/p>\n
During Tuesday night\u2019s Scranton City Council meeting, residents also expressed concerns about the city\u2019s aging infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Councilman Sean McAndrew questioned whether enough investment has been made into replacing aging water lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last six years, they\u2019ve increased our rates over 30 percent claiming it\u2019s going to go to infrastructure improvements and reinvestments into pipes and aging infrastructure overall, but my question is where is it? I haven\u2019t seen it,\u201d McAndrew said.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania American Water did not attend Tuesday\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n
While repairs to the damaged 24-inch water main were completed overnight and water service has been restored, a boil water advisory remains in effect while Pennsylvania American Water completes required water quality testing.<\/p>\n
Mayor Cognetti is encouraging residents to continue supporting downtown businesses as they recover from another costly disruption while city leaders continue pushing for long-term infrastructure improvements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Water service has been restored to customers impacted by Monday\u2019s major water main…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-254300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}