Western Whitestown Water . . .

"Be careful of what you ask for" is one of the messages in today's OD piece "Water Woes in Whitestown."

The "poster child" used to justify MVWA's expansion to Verona was Camelot Village. For some reason, the needs of these people for water somehow justified a 16 mile pipeline. When MVWA got tied up in court, the people looked to Rome which had mains only a short distance away.

Now some of the people in Whitestown who are passed by the water line want to get water from that line, but government bureaucracy is in the way.

They and their town should know that Transportation Corporation Law §42 provides that water-works corporations 'shall supply each city, town or village through which the conduits or mains of such corporation may pass, or wherein such corporation may have organized, and the inhabitants thereof, with pure and wholesome water, at reasonable rates.' With the mandatory 'shall,' it would appear that under this law, Rome, which is acting as a water works corporation, can be compelled to supply these Whitestown residents. Of course, these people should expect to have to pay a fair share of the cost of the pipeline.

Now that the water line is in use in Camelot Village, people there have soggy back yards because they aren't drinking the water beneath them.

So be careful of what you ask for ... and make sure to do a thorough environmental review of your project.