Aqua Indiana allowed to disconnect from Fort Wayne water supply

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE)  The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission  (IURC) has given Aqua Indiana permission to disconnect part of it's Aboite Township water system from Fort Wayne.  However a study looking into why Aqua customers experienced low water pressure this past summer did not return any conclusive answers.

In a letter to Aqua Indiana dated October 17, 2012, James D. Atterholt, IURC Chairman, agreed to Aqua's request to disconnect 1,300 affected customers from the Fort Wayne water supply.  Aqua had made that request on August 20, 2012 after usage had dropped off and drought conditions had subsided.

Atterholt granted the request after learning the findings of an independent audit ordered of Aqua's Aboite water system after a public hearing held in July of 2012 regarding the customer complaints about the utility's water pressure problems.  

That audit consisted of two phases.  Phase I looked into the the necessity of Aqua maintaining the connection with the Fort Wayne water system and Phase II looked into the long-term Aqua master plan.

The Phase I report  determined that supplemental water from Fort Wayne was no longer needed for the reasons Aqua had reasoned.  The  report also determined that the connection with Fort Wayne created a potential fire protection problem because only one connection was being used.  Aqua's system could not merge with the Fort Wayne system because of incompatibility of the disinfectant the two water systems use.

As for the Phase II report, it did not clearly identify why Aqua customers experienced low water pressure in June when the audit showed Aqua never met peak water production estimates during that time period.  The IURC is continuing its investigation to make sure Aqua has the ability to handle similar situations as those experienced in June of 2012.

Aqua Indiana released this statement Wednesday about the IURC phase one report:  "Aqua Indiana is pleased that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) has agreed to its request to disconnect approximately 1,200 homes from the City of Fort Wayne's water supply and return them to Aqua's supply. Aqua is confident that its wells and distribution system can meet the demands for water supply and maintain water pressure for all of its customers in Aboite Township."

The Director of Fort Wayne City Utilities said, "We are pleased that the IURC asked for an audit of Aqua Indiana’s supply, pressure and service. We entered the agreement to serve some 1300 Aqua customers until there was relief from this summer’s drought. We surveyed those customers that received our water during this period and an overwhelming majority (95%) of them rated our water as good to excellent. The IURC indicated that today (Wednesday) they are done with Phase One of their investigation but that they will continue to look into other aspects of Aqua in Phase Two of the investigation. As a regional water provider City Utilities is ready to supply the customers of Aqua and will do so as and when requested by the IURC during peak periods of usage, as indicated in the IURC document.

Mayor Henry is committed to providing a reliable and safe supply of water for drinking and for fire protection to all Fort Wayne, residents and we remain concerned about Aqua’s water pressure, quality, cost and service levels."