A microscopic parasite is having a big impact in Fox Township, weeks after being detected in the local water supply by state inspectors.
The Giardia Cyst’s detection by the state Department of Environmental Protection last month has prompted ongoing boil water advisories affecting hundreds of residents, as well as a municipal dash to establish a surrogate supply.
Rob Singer, operator of the Toby Water Treatment Plant in Kersey, said the advisory is still-in-effect for an estimated 120 connections, serving nearly 400 individuals.
The municipality hopes to lift the advisory in the coming weeks through an emergency connection allowing it to purchase and draw water from neighboring St. Marys.
The plan will be formally pitched in Monday’s meeting of the St. Marys Area Water Authority, Singer said, adding, he’s optimistic about the possibility of an agreement.
The boil water advisory has already been lifted for roughly 40 township customers already hooked onto the St. Marys system through a pre-existing connection.
Township Supervisor Mike Keller said of the efforts, “We’re trying desperately to get everything going.”
Until then a surplus of caution persists, with residents instructed to boil water before most uses — a tedious and time consuming process.
“There’s a lot of anxiety,” Keller said on Thursday, adding, “It’s difficult to boil water for drinking and washing dishes and all the things that go along with water use. People are trying to be patient.”
Keller said water does not need to be boiled before flushing toilets or washing clothes, provided they be dried afterward.
Ingestion of the Giardia parasiteis linked to acute gastrointestinal illness, a condition known as Giardiasis or “beaver fever,” often transferred to a water source through contact with animals or fecal matter.
Fox Township officials say there have been no reports of any illness as a result of the contamination.
Exactly how the parasite arrived there remains unclear, but cleaning up after it will almost certainly require exhaustive and expensive solutions.
The installation of a new, larger water line connecting township customers to St. Marys is just the beginning — a temporary measure meant to buy time for larger fixes, and studies, to be commenced.
Supervisor Randy Gradizzi said the DEP’s Giardia discovery means the township will now be required to undertake an engineering study and make necessary upgrades at the Toby Water Treatment Plant to prevent similar contamination in the future.
“We’re working to determine what caused it and what we need to do to make sure this never happens again,” Gradizzi said.
What upgrades will be prescribed, and the cost of completing them, is unknown as the study’s completion is still likely months away, or longer, he said.
Looking to the near future, Gradizzi hopes the St. Marys emergency connection will be completed by the “middle of next week or the following week.”
