Aqua Pennsylvania to customers: Go ahead and open the taps

Aqua Pennsylvania customers can go ahead and open the taps: The water company on Thursday ended its request to reduce nonessential water use that was put in place after the remnants of Hurricane Ida on Sept. 1 knocked out its largest treatment plant.

The Bryn Mawr water company owned by Essential Utilities Inc. said that it has recovered sufficient storage on its suburban water system to rescind its request for customers to conserve. “As we return to normal routines, let’s enjoy this essential resource, but not be wasteful,” Marc Lucca, president of Aqua Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

Record water levels breached the flood walls of Aqua’s Pickering West treatment plant in Schuylkill Township, near Phoenixville, inundating the plant that supplies up to 40% of the drinking water for Aqua’s suburban customers in Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, and Bucks Counties.

The company was able to maintain supply to most of its customers by ramping up production at other treatment plants located throughout its system.

But water pressure fell in some locations and Aqua last week advised customers in East Whiteland and Charlestown Townships to boil water. It rescinded the boil water alert on Sept. 10, but still asked customers to conserve until that request was lifted on Thursday.

Aqua has 372,000 water customers in Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties and serves an estimated population of about 1 million in Philadelphia’s collar counties.