A West Penn Township couple remains concerned with a water extraction plant located close to their home.

Bill and Carol VanTol, who reside at 317 Dairy Road, say there is an extraction plant near their residence that has been in operation by a private company for several years.Township officials did not have information available on the company, and the trucking company declined to tell the name of the company.The couple says the plant operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an estimated 16 truckloads leaving per day.Bill VanTol said there is a 100,000-gallon water tank located about 1,000 feet from the couple's property."That's how close," VanTol said. "All our water supply is right around where they're pumping 24 hours around the clock."VanTol estimates the company is pumping around 20-plus loads per day, hauling between 9,000 to 12,000 gallons per truckload."They've been doing that for between 8-10 years," he said. "They call it spring water, but it's pumped out of the well."VanTol said he was approached by the company with an offer in return for access to his property's right of way."They would have been going past my house 16 to 17 times a day," he said. "We could have gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars; I turned it down because I felt it wasn't the right thing to do."VanTol noted that his neighbor gave the company a right of way to run a pipeline past the neighbor's property.The couple said they're already inconvenienced by existing truck traffic from the operation.On top of that, they fear that a growing need for clean water would eventually compromise the area's water supply.Controversy continuesThe matter of water extraction has been a source of controversy in the township for many months.Supervisors at previous meetings had insisted that no extraction was occurring.Last month, the township's board of supervisors voted to adopt an ordinance that regulates water extraction.Now, it appears as if supervisors may make more changes to their regulations based on their annual reorganization meeting held recently.At that time, newly elected supervisor Anthony Prudenti made a motion to place a moratorium on water extraction in West Penn until he could have a chance to gather more information.New board chairman James Dean asked if that would be possible. Board solicitor Holly Heintzelman was also at her first meeting, replacing her predecessor, who had left her a letter indicating that a moratorium would not be legal.The board passed an ordinance regulating water extraction last month because of a recent project proposed by MC Resource Development Co. That ordinance was drafted by the township's previous solicitor.The ordinanceSupervisors said the new ordinance was adopted because of traffic concerns, as well as concerns from residents that their wells might run dry.A provision in the ordinance states all equipment used in extraction must be kept 500 feet from a property line.Additionally, reports on the harvested water that is sent to DEP must also be sent to the township.The DEP will monitor any extraction. High volume extraction must also be approved by the Delaware River Basin Commission.Harvesting is allowed on 100-acre sites and larger.At their meeting earlier this month, supervisors also adopted an amendment to the land development ordinance, which states that any commercial development would require a traffic study.This includes mine extracting, hospitals, mobile home parks, paper mills, trucking companies and commercial slaughter houses.Permit issuedAt last month's meeting, it was revealed that one permit has already been issued to Jay Land, who owns a site called One Fort Franklin off Route 309 near Blue Mountain Drive.Land received the permit from the township's zoning officer, and is extracting water for agricultural purposes. He has two wells on his property being used for extraction.Bill Anders, township zoning officer, said he issued the permit to Land on Dec. 23, 2014, but told Land he must submit a land development plan. He said at that time no land development plan has been received.Anders saidextraction is permitted in agriculture areas "because water is considered food, so it is considered an agricultural use."Land already has a permit, and will be grandfathered from provisions in the ordinance. However, he still must abide by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations.He saidthat none of the water harvested is sold for commercial consumption, as all of it is taken to farms in West Penn, New Brunswick and Lynn townships.Land said wells have existed on his property for many years.He said there are two productive wells, one with water being reached about a foot below the surface, and the other with a water level of about 20 feet.Land said that water source has been a water extraction for 30 years, and that nothing has changed.