What’s in the water: Luthersburg residents express concerns over water quality

LUTHERSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ)–Several residents of Luthersburg in Clearfield County are raising concerns over the quality of their drinking water.

Numerous people have reached out to WTAJ with reports of pipes bursting, wells running dry and brown water coming out of their facets. Unfortunately, it seems that there may be no simple solution because of how they receive their water.

“A lot of discoloration, and chemical issues,” Lacey Shepler who has most of her family living in Brady Township said. “Not being able to obviously drink it or consume it or really use it.”

“I’ve had loss of water, cloudy water, high chlorine levels, brown water, I mean all of it basically,” Brady Township resident Devin Haig added. “It’s hard having animals and coming home to no water.”

The complaints have been widespread among customers of the Brady Township Troutville Water Association, which serves more than a thousand homes. Clearfield County Commissioner Dave Glass says that fixing the issue likely won’t be cheap or easy, due in part to how the water service is organized.

“It is my understanding that they are not organized as a typical municipal authority,” Glass said. “It is more of a private, members owned, I don’t even know how to describe what it is but it’s not an authority. It’s owned by the members. It’s more of a co-op I guess would be the best way to put it.”

The water association published details about a member’s meeting at the Brady Township Community Center on Monday, Aug. 12, but WTAJ was told that we were not allowed inside of the meeting to cover it because it was not a public meeting. The association does hold a monthly meeting at the Troutville Borough Building and does receive some public funding, but even the funding can be complicated.

In March of 2023, the association was allocated $150,000 in grant money from the county to replace water meters and repair waterlines.

“They are not eligible for some other grants and loans, such as Pennvest, that a typical authority might be eligible for,” Glass said.

Glass said that the association had requested funds from the county before to look at the feasibility of drilling more wells. However, that was ultimately turned down.

“I personally would encourage them to look to combine with a neighboring authority if that is possible,” Glass said.

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WTAJ has reached out to the Brady Township Troutville Water Association multiple times and so far, has not received a response back.

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