Greg Bosich has been waiting for good news about his water for about six or seven years.
Bosich lives on Kennan Drive in Salem, where a falling water table has caused wells to fail for homeowners along the road that connects Route 819 to Orr Drive.
“They built a park across the highway, and they extended public water there, but we can’t get it here,” Bosich said. “People here have to have water brought in every other month because we can’t get enough.”
The recent announcement of a $350,000 state grant for Salem to extend public water service should be music to Bosich’s ears — but the specific grant application to extend service to Kennan Drive wasn’t approved in the latest round of Local Share Account funding.
“During the 2024 Local Share Account program, we applied for four projects pretty much simultaneously,” said township Supervisor Kerry Jobe. “The first ones were Kennan Drive and Tucker Drive. The grant for Tucker was approved.”
When 2025 Local Share Account grant applications were due, township officials reapplied for not just Kennan but also Tucker, since the initial grant would not cover the full scope of the project.
“The supervisors’ board has to sit down in January and decide how we want to proceed,” Jobe said. “The goal is to start with the main (water) line off Kemp Road, along with Tucker Drive, which we may have to pare down to fit the grant funding. We’ve already reapplied for Kennan Drive, and hopefully we can pick up another grant during the next round.”
The township also is awaiting news about a Pennsylvania Small Water and Sewer Program grant for a water line project off Beaver Run Road.
But every time Bosich passes a fire hydrant about 250 yards from his front door, he’s reminded how close public water is to the homes on his street.
“When we looked at (running water service) a few years ago, it was going to cost something like $180,000 to connect, and a lot of us were happy to rely on our wells,” he said. “But if there’s grant money available, I think the number one priority should be the residents along Kennan Drive. There should be water coming down our street, instead of a park that’s only usable five months out of the year.”
Jobe said township officials worked with their engineers to identify four areas where they want to try and extend public water over the next few years.
“We may not get all of it, but we want to try and get public water to the families and farms where they’re having problems with their wells,” he said.