In response to a letter from the Venango Water Company dated Thursday, Oil City Council members gladly voted Thursday to take steps to aid Reno’s water situation.
Council voted to apply for an emergency permit from the Department of Environmental Protection upon DEP approval to sell potable water to Venango Water Co. until Dec. 31, at which time the arrangement would be revisited.
Currently, Oil City’s water facility is permitted to sell bulk water for industrial and commercial use, but not drinking water, city water department director Jason Herman said.
The options would be to either apply to have its current water permit altered so the city can be a long term seller of bulk potable water or apply for an emergency alteration to the permit, allowing the city to sell potable water only for the duration of the current Reno emergency and only to specific haulers involved with the emergency.
Herman said either route would require filling out a form and submitting it to the DEP.
He recommended going the emergency permitting route, the cost of which would be about $100, he added.
When asked how long it would take, Herman said filling out the application on the city’s end shouldn’t take very long.
Once the permit is summitted, it is up to the DEP to approve the permit or tell the city what would have to be modified for the permit to be approved, Herman added.
In response to questions from city manager Mark Schroyer, Herman said Venango Water would want about 25,000 gallons of water a day, though he believed the number would probably be higher than that initially while the water company flushes out its system.
Herman said the city has the capacity to provide the additional water to Reno without incurring hardship on the citizens of Oil City.
Venango Water would have to line up a hauler, and once the water is in the hauler’s tank, it is no longer the city’s responsibility, Herman said.
Schroyer noted that a city employee would have to be at the city garage any time a truck came to get water since that is where the water would be disbursed.
Filling up a water tank truck that can haul about 6,000 gallons would take about 15 minutes, Herman said, adding that the city would keep a record for each time a water truck is filled up.
The billing system is already set up since the city sells bulk water for industrial purposes, Schroyer said.
Council members were happy to have the opportunity to help their Reno neighbors.
“We have the best water around,” councilman Ron Gustafson said, adding that he has been following the Reno situation and thinking about how to help.
