Resident James Chase shows water that he has to boil and filter Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022, in East Bangor because of possible contaminants. About a quarter of East Bangor Municipal Authority’s 400 customers have lived under a boil-water advisory since summer, but Authority officials said Wednesday, Oct. 12, that they hope to lift the advisory by Thanksgiving after a new cover is installed over a 400,000-gallon reservoir. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

A replacement cover is expected to be placed next month on East Bangor Municipal Authority’s 400,000-gallon reservoir.

That means if all goes as anticipated, customers should be able to prepare holiday meals and entertain families and friends without boiling their water first — something they have had to do for months.

“We want it filled by Thanksgiving,” Brad Wagner, chair of the authority, said about the giant holding tank. “I don’t want to have people boiling water during Thanksgiving.”

Authority officials at a meeting Wednesday night said it will take several weeks to remove the old cover, then install the replacement, a process that includes draining and refilling the giant reservoir.

About 100 customers — roughly one-fourth of East Bangor’s 400 users — have lived with the boil water order since the summer. Officials first spotted leaks in the cover near the end of May, according to the authority’s meeting minutes. The cover was installed in 2020.

In general, residents under a boil-water advisory should boil water from their faucets for at least one minute for drinking, preparing food or brushing teeth, or buy bottled water.

No contaminants have been found, but authority officials have said Pennsylvania mandates closing a system if a leak could produce the potential of polluting substances.

When leaks, which were caused by faulty heat-welds on the cover’s fabric, were discovered, the authority notified its contractor, Atlantic Lining Co., which tried to repair the top. After draining, then refilling the tank, officials noticed leaks again.

“At that point,” authority solicitor Peter Layman said, “we rejected further repairs, because one attempt was ineffective.”

Atlantic Lining is expected to bring a new cover during the week of Nov. 7, Layman said. With site preparation and another round of refilling the tank, officials hope the work will be completed by Thanksgiving.

A telephone message left with Atlantic Lining, in Easthampton, New Jersey, was not returned.

Customer James Chase, who attended the meeting, told authority officials he appreciated their work

“I think you are doing a really good job,” Chase said. “I’m just disappointed that the liner people are not as cooperative, apparently, as they could be.”

Outside the meeting room afterward, Chase was more hopeful than happy.

“If they say Thanksgiving, I think that’s pretty fast,” he said, noting the work, according to officials, would also require taking down a fence around the reservoir, draining and refilling its holding tank, and having the cover inspected before the reservoir is back in service.

The East Bangor authority serves about 400 customers mostly in the borough, with some in neighboring Upper Mount Bethel and Washington townships. Customers in the boil-water area live in the southern end of the borough, in the Locke Heights area.

Most customers are served from a separate system in Upper Mount Bethel Township. Connecting the reservoir customers to the other system would risk not having enough water for firefighting.

Chase said he has resorted to boiling water every morning. Some residents, he said, have been receiving large deliveries of water.

Morning Call journalist Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.