City Of Huron Not Backing Water Line Insurance

The City of Huron is not throwing it’s support behind mailings that are encouraging residents to insure their water service lines. American Water Resources of South Dakota has been sending letters to home owners in Huron. Mayor Dave McGirr says some people believed the city is recommending or endorsing the insurance. McGirr says the City of Huron is not endorsing what the company is trying to do. McGirr says the City has received no information from A-W-R about how the insurance will be administered, if local contractors will be used or if the company will reimburse customers, if they pay a contractor to repair a broken service line. Repairing the line that connects a home to the water main in the street can cost between one to three thousand dollars to repair. The letters claims the company will insure the line for five to six dollars per month. Repair of the service line is the responsibility of the home owner. On average 10 service lines break in Huron each year out of approximately 5000 hook-ups. A-W-R is licensed to sell insurance in South Dakota. An e-mail obtained by Performance Radio News from McGirr says American Water Resources of South Dakota is a subsidiary of American Water, the largest publicly traded water company in the world, based in New Jersey. The company claims to have nearly one million customer contracts. McGirr says the City of Huron is in no way involved with the company and encourages residents to do some research before deciding to get the insurance.