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Still Working To Get The Water Flowing in Freeland

FREELAND — The ongoing water problems in the borough of Freeland in Luzerne County now have crews putting salt water through the system to see if that can...

FREELAND -- The ongoing water problems in the borough of Freeland in Luzerne County now have crews putting salt water through the system to see if that can help thaw out pipes.

More than 60 homes have been without water because of frozen pipes.

Crews with the Freeland Municipal Authority say they have been doing everything they can to cut that number down. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 30 of the homes have running water again.

Three crews are working now and the municipal authority has hired two more crews that will start on Thursday.

"There is salt. It actually has salt water going through that tube shooting water up in the pipe at the ice," said authority worker Tom Zoshak.

Since Monday, crews have been working 12 to 14 hours a day using salt water pumps and welding machinery, trying to unfreeze water pipes in and around the borough.

"Everybody is working as hard as they can to rectify this situation, so patience, patience, patience. I know it's not easy if you haven't had water for five or six days," said Freeland Mayor Ed Appleman.

Borough officials say without the effort by crews to fix the problem, it would take days, maybe even weeks of temperatures well above 40 degrees for the water pipes to thaw out on their own.

"The problem is the frost level is at least three feet deep, if not more," Zoshak explained. "We have this cold weather for such a long extended period of time, and that's what's really hurting us. Mother Nature is killing us!"

The mayor has asked for help from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

"We did that only because of the magnitude of the houses, what was happening. It was like an epidemic. Every house on one block kept freezing, freezing, and then all over town."

The showed us this newspaper clipping from 1934, the last time temperatures were this cold and Freeland had a major issue with frozen pipes.

Some residents say they just can't believe how bad this winter has been and the effect it has had.

"It's just one of those things where it's just not letting up, and people are just so fed up," said mike Mallowy. "Everybody is just miserable."

The Freeland Municipal Authority hopes to have all the pipes unfrozen by Friday night, but that is, yet again, a night where we could see below-zero temperatures in this area.

They're asking people to please run the water in your faucets for at least the next two weeks to prevent more water pipes freezing.

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