West Penn Township has delegated a faction to refresh its water extraction ordinance.

By a unanimous measure, the township's board of supervisors on Monday morning named nine people to the township's Water Resource & Planning Steering Committee.Those named to serve on the committee are David and Elaine Lapinsky; Theodore Rosen; Larry Stival; Timothy Houser; Jamie Schellhammer; James Land Jr. and supervisors Jim Dean and Ted Bogosh.The committee will hold its first meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 25.Earlier this month, supervisors agreed to form the committee at the suggestion of Supervisor Tony Prudenti, who noted that water extraction has been a major issue, and he wants to update the township's ordinance.In June, David Lapinsky asked supervisors that a moratorium be put on water extraction in the community because he believes what's taking place is not water harvesting, but rather, water extraction.Prudenti said that was his recommendation on his very first day in office, but that the board's former solicitor had left township solicitor Holly Heintzelman a letter indicating that a moratorium would not be legal.Heintzelman agreed that no moratorium should be placed on water extraction in the township.Prudenti reiterated his stance that his concern remains getting trucks off the township's roads.James Land Jr., president and owner of Ringgold Acquisition Group II LLC, previously noted that a settlement was recently reached between M.C. Resource Development Company and DEP on property known as Pine Valley, which has been a raw spring water source for bottled water plants.Land then thanked the board, as well as its predecessor board, for not only dealing with water extraction, but also for treating him with respect under the circumstances.In May, Prudenti said his solution to get truck traffic off the township's roads was to negotiate a water extraction and road agreement with Land, and suggested that at Land's expense, he run a pipeline out onto a state road.Prudenti said the township is trying to update the township's water extraction ordinance to try to make it a little bit tougher than it is right now.As a starting point, Prudenti proposed they negotiate that the zone of influence be extended to a 1½-mile radius. The current DEP zone of influence is a quarter-mile, he said.Prudenti also suggested constructing a pipeline to state roads for the loading of water into trucks, with the township helping procure rights of way if it is not able to use its own.Additionally, Prudenti suggested a $10,000 yearly road maintenance and repair fee for each well site for roads affected by truck traffic.Prudenti has said on multiple occasions that the township has to look at protecting residents' wells, eliminating truck traffic and saving roads.