Residents blame SEPTA for water main mess

WYNNEFIELD (WPVI) -- Residents in the city's Wynnefield section say they are plagued by constant water main breaks, and claim that SEPTA is responsible.

They say the agency's use of 57th Street and Wynnefield Avenue as a turnaround for buses is to blame. But SEPTA officials say they are not to blame.

Water Department contractors are back in the neighborhood for the fifth time in roughly 18 months. Replacing broken water mains.

The mains keep erupting, which neighbors contend had not been a problem until SEPTA rerouted it into a bus turnaround for the Route 52 about two years ago.

Block Captain John Marshall tells us, "You can feel the vibration when two, three buses come down here at a time."

More than 50,000 SEPTA bus trips now roll through the intersection each year, and the residents blame the transit authority.

"This is the fifth time... water main breaks. And we know it's from the tonnage of the buses," Marshall said.

Wallace Walker, who has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years, tells us, "I've never seen this much construction and damage on this block in my life. And it seemed to have happened approximately two years ago when the 52 started running through here."

SEPTA counters by noting the age of the water pipes and the fact that St. Joe's

University runs student shuttles along the same Wynnefield Avenue route, and delivery trucks use it for access to the nearby college campus.

In other words - don't blame SEPTA.

Jerri Williams from SEPTA says, "The Water Department has said to SEPTA, to the neighbors that those pipes are a hundred years old and the SEPTA buses are not the cause of those pipes busting."

SEPTA says, and the protesting residents agree, the 52 turnaround is simply not wanted along this section of Wynnefield Avenue, and alternatives are being sought.

Williams says, "There are lots of options that we're looking at. One of the options that we are looking at is finding a turnaround spot at St. Joe's.

So far, no timetable has been set on finding an alternative route for the 52.