A fire hydrant line in the Lake Hauto private development that has been the subject of recent concerns regarding adequate fire protection may soon be updated.

The Carbon County Planning Commission on Tuesday submitted a letter of support for the Lansford-Coaldale Joint Water Authority's request for Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development funding under the Pennsylvania Small Water and Sewer program for the private development's water system improvement project.The authority is requesting $423,470 to cover 85 percent of the costs of the $498,200 project. The remaining $74,730 would be covered by a match from the water authority.The Lake Hauto private development is situated in both Nesquehoning and Rush Township.The plans for the project include replacing approximately 2,400 feet of existing 6-inch diameter cast/ductile iron with new 8-inch diameter ductile iron pipe along with the replacement of 19 existing fire hydrants along Lake Drive with new hydrants and new 6-inch ductile iron piping and valves."This project will help improve the water flow in and along Lake Drive within the Lake Hauto area water system that serves a portion of Nesquehoning borough and a portion of Rush Township and will also help improve fire flows and fire protection to address concerns raised by local officials," Keith R. Showalter, an engineer for Systems Design Engineering Inc., wrote in the letter to the planning commission.The issue of the fire hydrant and adequate water flow for fire protection at Lake Hauto began last October, when Nesquehoning Fire Chief John McArdle brought it to council's attention.At the time, McArdle said the fire hydrants around the lake are not usable by fire departments because the lines are too small to adequately provide enough water to fight a fire at the development, forcing the use of tanker trucks, which would delay a response.Discussions continued for months, first within the borough council and then between the development's board, council and water authority.In August, McArdle reported that through discussions with the Lansford-Coaldale Joint Water Authority, it was proposed that a fire hydrant line along Lake Drive in the development would be changed and a new hydrant installed to see if that would increase the water flow in the hydrant.